Wild Effect
by Largo
Summary: The Illusive man's plans for humanity have not moved along as quickly as he wished. Even the best biotics haven't come close to securing humanity's place at the top, however he has a plan. But as with anything involving a Saotome, it won't go smoothly...
1. Chapter 1

Wild Effect

The surface of the sun rolled and flowed around itself, a sea of boiling reactions emitting masses of lethal and life-bringing energy. A never still, never the same, self containing fusion reaction. A corona of energy, visible only due to the filtering, glowed around it. Beautiful, but deadly as close as the station was positioned to it. Anyone who stared at it this close would have their eyes seared blind by the highly energetic particles if not for the six different layers of shielding between it and the lone figure that sat on a simple chair in a darkened room.

The Illusive man, not his real name, nobody, not even his closest confidants knew his real name, exhaled a lungful of smoke and watched it drift up and away, deep in thought. His face was hidden in the shadows cast from the filtered sunlight, only the glowing cyan pattern of his cybernetic eyes was visible as he stubbed out the cigarette against the ashtray in his chair's arm.

He made a gesture before himself and three screens blipped into sight. They floated before him, each detailing a different project, how it was doing, when it would finish or if it was proving non-viable. He studied them for a moment, quickly assessing and then moving on. His information network was vast and to even keeping on top of seventy-five percent of it took most of his time. The click of heels on the polished floor approaching alerted him to one of his best agents arrival.

"Is the package delivered?" The Illusive man asked in his distinctive accent as he continued to check his reports.

"She's in place. Exactly where you wanted." Miranda Lawson replied. The extensively modified, so-called perfect human walked past her employer and looked out at the sun. She folded her arms, a faint scowl on her beautiful face. "Down to the very last little detail. It took some doing getting her in unnoticed past Citadel security."

"But you succeeded splendidly. As I've come to expect from yourself."

Miranda stayed silent and continued to frown at the sun. She appeared annoyed by something.

"You're upset." It was a statement. "I hadn't informed you of this side-project for personal reasons." The Illusive man continued to flick between reports as Miranda turned to him.

"Not really. Concerned perhaps. Confused…definitely." She replied. "Your request came out of the blue. I've looked over her medical files. No modifications. No genetic anomalies. No history. No special abilities of any kind recorded by the doctors. A normal human girl in every way. I don't see what's so special about her."

"You don't see. And that Ms. Lawson, is why she is so special." The Illusive man stated enigmatically without looking up. "The Council is currently in the process of choosing a candidate for the Spectres. A human candidate." He paused and lit another cigarette and took a deep drag. "I intend to give them the best damned candidate they could hope for. Someone that will shatter all their illusions of humanity and our abilities."

"Then why not someone with strong biotics? Why go to all the trouble of placing this…normal girl?"

"Biotics may be the future, but even you, with all your modifications, don't come close to a tenth of her potential."

"She's engineered then?" Miranda probed.

"Jealousy doesn't become you, you know."

"Hardly. You still haven't answered where she came from." Miranda's scowl deepened. She couldn't work out from the Illusive man's tone whether he was joking or not.

"Let's say she's been in my family for generations. The Council wants the best there is. I'm giving them the best there ever was."

"How's she better than any of our operatives?"

"Neither the Council nor the Alliance would accept a Cerberus operative. The background checks alone on one put forward to join the Spectres are too thorough to fake, even for myself. Any operative I planted would be discovered. Which is why I had this little project undertaken in utmost secrecy. Even she won't know how she came to be. I cannot allow any hint of Cerberus influence in getting her the candidacy, to be discovered."

"They'll never accept someone with no history either." Miranda pointed out.

"She does have a history. Although I doubt you looked for it in the right places." The Illusive man's mouth twitched slightly upwards in a smirk.

"You're holding a weak hand and gambling it all on a nobody catching the eye of the Council. This isn't like you."

"Oh, I very much doubt they'll miss her awakening. If she lives up to even a fraction of *his* potential…then things will be getting very, very interesting, very shortly." The Illusive man finally looked up from the reports. "My hand is a lot stronger than you suspect. After all, I'm holding all the wild cards."

x-X-x

Ranma Saotome blinked sleep from her eyes as she awoke to an unfamiliar tent. For a moment she just laid still and stared up at the tent roof and listened in for clues as to where she might be. The sound of running water nearby and waking in a tent suggested she was still deep in the wilds of Japan. Memories were slowing coming back, and one stood out. Herb. She must be till chasing the arrogant jerk who had locked the curse.

She yawned and winced as a stabbing pain in her ribs slammed her back to full wakefulness and yesterday's memories came flooding back. They had chased Herb to Mount Horaisan where she had faced off against the Musk Prince. The battle hadn't gone well. Herb had been extremely powerful, having reserves of chi Ranma had thought impossible. Casually throwing around chi attacks that ripped the mountain to shreds during their battle. Herb had even countered the Hiryu Shoten Ha.

"Damn it." she hissed through clenched teeth and her hands went to her side as she stiffly forced herself into a sitting position. She stared down at herself with a sad expression. Stuck. She was still stuck as a girl. Her last memories were of being caught in her own technique, but from there it got fuzzy. She vaguely recalled Ryouga running for the Open water Kettle. Anything after that drew a blank. She must have been knocked out by her own technique she reasoned and dropped that line of thought as the more she thought about it, the more her head began to ache.

"Explains the ribs." she muttered noticing the bandages were wrapped around her over the top of her shirt. "Ryouga…" Ranma sighed with an eye-roll. He must have rescued her as she could think of no one else who would be too embarrassed to take off her shirt to bandage her up.

She gently probed the painful area with her fingers, winching occasionally, but lucking nothing seemed to be broken, just some deep bruising. She estimated she would be fine to move around, probably well enough to fight in a few hours. She decided she needed to find out what had happened while she was out and then get that kettle. Ranma hoped it had not been destroyed in the fallout.

Deciding she wasn't going to get any closer to unlocking the curse lying in bed, Ranma got onto her knees and crawled over to the tent flap. She spotted a handwritten note pinned to the exit. She took the piece of paper down and read it.

"Gone to find water. Ryouga." Ranma read aloud with a sinking feeling that Ryouga wouldn't be outside after all. She pushed the flap aside and climbed out the tent. She had to pause in wonder at the odd landscape she found herself standing on.

She was on a grassy ledge, overlooking a massive lake. That wasn't what made her pause. It was that the lake appeared man-made, the entire area beyond built up like some futuristic city, but with trees and plant life dotted around on any spot they could be planted. Ranma could see bridges crossing the lake as she looked up and down. At either side of the lake, buildings made from a strangely cream coloured metal appeared to be built into the landscape stood with masses of balconies and ledges also filled with greenery. The ground seemed to curve up in the distance and even the lake followed the curvature.

Ranma scratched her head in confusion as she stared up at the sky and noticed it wasn't. It looked like clouds but she could see it was two-dimensional. Like a flat painting that was scrolling, giving the impression of clouds. As she stared a flying car zoomed past overhead. Ranma blinked in surprise, certain that there weren't flying cars in Japan, at least not yet. She tore her eyes away from the overhead vehicles and looked down to the pathway below her.

"Where the heck did you get us lost this time Ryouga?" Ranma wondered as she noticed the weird looking creatures walking along the walkways to the sides of the lake. She relaxed slightly at seeing plenty of normal looking people mingling alongside the creatures of various shapes and colours. If normal people weren't bothered by the creatures, then neither would she.

Ranma turned her attention away from the strange sights and back to the camp-site in search of Ryouga, or Mousse, and hopefully answers. All she found was a small and unburnt camp-fire with a little black metal pot on a tripod hanging above it, waiting to be used. No sign of Ryouga.

Ranma looked down at the note she still held in one hand and then over to the lake not more than four feet away. She let out an annoyed and long-suffering sigh before crumpling the note up and tossed it back in the tent.

"Only Bacon-breath could get lost looking for water next to a lake." Ranma stated as she watched one of the fountains spewing water into the air from the lake. She turned away and spotted Ryouga's backpack was lying by the tent. Ranma wandered over.

"Okay, hope you've got some food in here, I'm starving." Ranma muttered as she rifled through Ryouga's pack. She found a cup-noodle that would do for now and also a small fishing-pole that she pulled out. "Hmm, wonder if there's any fish in the lake?" Ranma said taking the pole.

Ranma took the pot off the tripod's hook and attached it to the fishing pole as she wandered past towards the edge of the grassy ledge she was on. She sat down carefully and lowered the pot into the water. A passing long faced and large eyed creature blinked rapidly as the pot dropped past nearby him, startling him. He gave Ranma a curious stare and a wide berth as she drew the filled pot back up.

Ranma took the filled pot off the fishing-pole. She set the fishing-pole aside and headed back to the camp-fire. She replaced the pot and managed to light the fire quickly with an improvised use of the Amaguriken speed and a dry twig. She waited until she was certain the fire wouldn't blow out, opened the cup noodles and placed them by the fire before she returned back to the lake. She retrieved the fishing-pole off the ground and sat down before she cast out into the lake and leaned back to wait for fish to start biting.

As she waited, she tried to figure out where she was. The 'park' she was in didn't look like any she had seen before. Then there was all the odd creatures wandering about that none of the other humans seemed to be reacting to as odd. Another thing she noticed was the fact that despite all the plant-life, there seemed to be no birds or even insects around. The air smelled clean but not fresh. She had the distinct impression everything was artificially arranged. Her contemplation of her current situation was interrupted by a cry.

"Gah! Human! What do you think you're doing?!" a voice, with an almost metallic sounding edge to it shouted out from behind Ranma.

"Huh?" Ranma turned towards the voice to see a tall, lizard-like creature stamping out her fire and her noodles. Once the fire was out the Turian turned his crested head to glare at her. "You jerk! That was my breakfast I was cooking!" Ranma snapped back after it took her a few moments to collect her thoughts.

The Turian grounds-keeper's mandibles twitched in annoyance as he addressed Ranma. "Cooking? Cooking! You can't just go starting fires on the Presidium! This is a major breach in health and safety! Not to mention destruction of Council property. I'll be reporting you to C-Sec!"

"Eh? It's just a small camp-fire -"

"Camp-fire!!" The Turian's voice rose in pitch as he looked scandalised by Ranma's reply. "You…you've the actual gall to set up a camp-site - wait - is…is that a fishing-pole?" he pointed a claw at the fishing-pole.

"No. It's a magic-stick that makes fish." Ranma dead-panned back. This guy's attitude was rubbing her the wrong way. The Turian grounds-keeper's jaw fell open and his mandibles went wide as he and Ranma stared at each other.

Shaking off his shock, the Turian stormed over to Ranma. He grabbed her arm and towered over the short girl. "This! This is why you humans shouldn't be allowed up here! No concern for others property-"

His rant was cut off as Ranma slugged him in the gut, bending the surprised Turian double and making him release her arm. She then reached up and grabbed the wide, stiff round collar of his strange suit.

"You need to cool off." Ranma stated as she threw him over her shoulder into the lake with a loud splash. She winced from the fresh stab of pain that moved caused, but it was worth it to see the creature's expression when he surfaced spluttering. The sudden splash drew a small crowd from nearby. People pointed and there were a few chuckles as the grounds-keeper began spluttering in rage.

"Somebody call C-Sec! Arrest that human!" he shouted and pointed up at Ranma. An empty cup-noodle bounced harmlessly off his head plates sending him back under the water in surprise.

"What's that? I can't hear ya." Ranma called down. She ignored all the stares she was getting, being quite used to that by now. "Stupid jerk, ruining my breakfast." She muttered shaking her head. She noticed another one of the lizard-guys moving towards her. This one was dressed differently. He wore blue armour and carried a gun attached to his leg and seemed to be talking into a microphone as he approached.

"Uh ho. Better leave." Ranma stated as she recognised a police officer when she saw one. Growing up with her father had taught her how to spot one. Ranma took off at a steady jog, which the C-Sec officer matched as he moved to intercept her. Ranma smirked as she hit the ledge edge and leaped high up onto one of the ledges further up. She then jumped across the twenty foot gap to a nearby balcony. Then she was off, hopping from balcony to balcony, quickly disappearing from sight. Jaws dropped at the casual display of prowess.

"I didn't know humans could do that." a nearby Salarian remarked in awe.

Once Ranma was certain she was far enough away, she dropped down to the walkway, landing next to a blue, almost human appearing girl aside from what would have been her hair seemed more like sweptback tentacles. She blinked at the red-head's sudden appearance and then looked upwards trying to find where she had dropped from. The balcony's above started on the third floor.

"Where…did you come from?" the blue lady asked in wonderment. Her wonder turned quickly to concern. "Are you okay?" she asked after her eyes spotted the bandages around Ranma's chest and her scuffed and tattered clothes.

"I'm fine." Ranma replied with a casual wave. "Hey, you wouldn't know any place to get some food?"

"Well, there's few places on the Presidium for food. Sloarkies down that way is a Turian-" she pointed.

"Thanks lady!" Ranma waved as she was already heading quickly that way.

"Err…you're welcome?" she waved back unsure as to what had just occurred.

Ranma slowed down to a brisk walk as she was drawing a lot of curious stares running along as she was. While she wandered the street looking for the food place, she studied the various fashions. Each species seemed to have it's own styles. Those lizard-guys liked tight clothing with wide open and round collars. Humans and the blue-lady's either wore dresses or suits. The large eyed creatures liked suits with a varied colour scheme and pattern. Usually Ranma could judge the area she was in from the clothing, but here she had no clue.

"Wonder if this is the place?" Ranma said as she slowed and stopped in front of an opening. There was a large glowing sign above it. She wasn't sure if the building she stopped at was this 'Sloarkies' or not, but the bar-like appearance set back from the walkway suggested it could be. As she stared up at the glowing sign outside, the unfamiliar script shifted and changed into text she could read. "Neat. Sloarkies." Ranma read. "Guess this is the place."

The sounds of sizzling and the smell of odd spices she couldn't recognise drew her towards the food bar. There weren't any people sitting on the stools as she approached but she could see another of those lizard-guys working away.

"Yo. You do good food here?" Ranma asked, standing at the bar and putting her fingers on the edge.

"Just *good* food? I do the best food on all of the Pres-" Sloark stated turning. The Turian chef paused at seeing the dishevelled human girl looking up at him. "Er, you're a human."

"Last time I checked." Ranma stated, double-checking just in case. With the way her life had turned out, it paid to check.

"Ah, kid. This is a Turian restaurant. You should go elsewhere."

"You got a problem with humans?" Ranma asked with a slight narrowing of her eyes. Were all these lizard-guy's not friendly to humans?

"Hey! Hey! I haven't got a problem with you guys." Sloark waved his clawed hands. "But I only do Turian food you see. You should go find that human delicacy ramen bar down on the wards or one of the multi-species restaurants."

"Delicacy? Ramen? You're joking right?" Ranma stared up at the Turian chef unbelievingly.

"You mean it isn't?" Sloark pondered with a claw under his chin. "That lying little toe-rag. Heh, always did think it was weird of you guys to eat something that looks like worms in mud."

"So is that Turian food you're cooking?" Ranma pointed, guessing Turian was his species from the way he talked.

"Of course."

"It smells good."

"Damn straight it does. I'm making it." Sloark stated proudly.

"So can I order some?" Ranma pouted cutely. Her stomach grumbled.

Sloark rubbed one mandible nervously. "Look, kid. I can see you're hungry and all, but most Turian spices make you humans ill, okay."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Like most of your human food does the same to us guys. Something about our biology."

"Heh. I'm pretty hardy when it comes to food. I've survived my fiancée's cooking. I doubt a few measly spices will hurt me." Ranma stated thumbing her breastbone.

"Maybe, but I don't want to be the one to call for a doctor. Neither do I want to get caught up in some sort of claim that I poisoned you on purpose and you're suing me. Can't be too careful in this sue-happy era."

"So…so you won't serve me?" Ranma sniffed and used the devastating kicked-puppy technique.

"Err…is something wrong with your eyes?" Sloark asked with a hint of concern in his voice. "They've gone all weird and…large…"

'Drat. The cute girl act doesn't work on these guys.' Ranma sighed as she switched off the cute act. Then she asked, "Will you serve me if I promise not to sue?"

"You're not going to leave until I do are you." Sloark stated with a sigh. "Fine…put it in writing and I'll try and cook you something none-allergenic to you."

"Yatta!" Ranma cheered.

"You can pay for it right kid?" Sloark questioned, bringing Ranma back down to earth with a bump. He eyed her damaged shirt. "Just you look a little…rough around the edges."

"Well I got-" Ranma felt around in her pockets and pulled out what yen she still had. She counted it quickly. "About fifty-thousand yen. That should cover it right?" she added hopefully.

"Yen? Oh, that must human money I guess." Sloark realised as he saw the notes and coins Ranma held. "Ah…kid. I can't accept that. I need either standard galactic credits or an electronic transfer."

"Oh…can I work for the food then? I've served as a waitress before."

"Sorry, I don't need a waitress. This place isn't that big." Sloark responded. He could easily see the girl become dejected by his response. Taking pity on her he added. "Kid, if you go to your human embassy I'm sure they'll be able to exchange your money for the standard credits. Then you can come back. Hows that sound?"

"Right! I'll be right back!" Ranma stated rushing off. Sloark shook his head at the odd human. Ranma suddenly reappeared, skidding to a halt before the food-bar. "Err, do you know where the embassy is?"

"Across the lake and about half a mile that way." he pointed.

"Thanks again!" Ranma rushed off again leaving behind a bewildered Turian.

Ranma raced across the bridge, dodging startled bystanders and then headed in the direction Sloark had pointed. With the way the place was laid out she doubted she would get lost and let her mind drift. The First thing was to get food. That was well under way. Second was to find Ryouga again. A little harder, but she would bet her remaining money that Ryouga would find her sometime soon, he always did. Then they needed to train harder, she already had ideas for new techniques after seeing what Herb was capable of. Then rematch time with Herb. Next time she would be ready for him and would beat him so hard his grand-children would regret ever locking the curse. Then home. Easy.

The redhead slid to a halt outside a large opening in the wall and looked around. There were two large glass displays behind a set of three seats, stood to either side, separating a small area of grass from the entrance. A glowing and transparent figure stood before a console before her. Two large banners with a starfish-like symbol, that Ranma didn't know represented the Citadel's five arms, hung above the grassy area. To the back of the room was a desk and another blue woman sat behind it. The place looked like something important so Ranma wandered in.

"Hello, and welcome to the Citadel unknown human." the transparent woman greeted Ranma as she passed. "My name is Avina. How may I be of assistance?"

Ranma paused before turning to face the ghostly image. She decided to be polite to the ghost, better safe than sorry. "Err, hi. I'm Ranma Soatome."

"Greetings Ranma Saotome. I have added your name to my database. How may I help you?"

"Are you a ghost?" Ranma asked curiously passing her hand through the hologram.

"I am the Citadel's VI, or Virtual Intelligence program. I act as a guide and historian to the Citadel's visitors."

"Program? Is that some sorta computer thing?" Ranma eyed the hologram.

"A crude and basic definition, but correct." Avina replied. "Is there anything you wish to know?"

"Yeah actually. Have you seen a Ryouga Hibiki around? About this tall," Ranma indicated. "Has black hair with a yellow and black spotted bandanna. Carries a big umbrella with him all the time and can get lost in a room with one door."

"One moment." Avina responded. The hologram went quiet for a two seconds. "There are zero Ryouga Hibiki's currently on the Citadel. Is there anything else you wish to know?"

"Guess that was too much to hope for." Ranma muttered to herself. "How about Mousse?"

"Many fine haircare products are available on levels 26 to 27 of the Zekera Wards. Is there anything else you wish to know?"

"Is this the human embassy?"

"The human embassy is one of the embassies currently stationed in this building. Is there anything else you wish to know?"

"Great!" Ranma exclaimed as something was finally going right. "Where is it? I need to get some yen converted to…erm, credits I think?"

"Monetary conversions are available at the embassy. However, the human embassy is currently closed."

"What? Why?"

"That information is classified under Alliance military and Council orders."

"Can't you just let me in?" Ranma pleaded.

"I am sorry. That is not in my programming."

"Aww man. I really need my money changing." Ranma huffed. Well, maybe it was time to try bribing. "Are you sure you can't let me in? A cute program like you should be able to right?"

Avina's image suddenly flickered before stabilising.

"Are you okay?" Ranma asked at the sudden but brief glitch and wondered how much trouble she could get into if she had broken Avina.

"I am experiencing minor corruption in my personality database." Avina stated. "Thank you for asking Ranma."

"Oh good. I'm glad you're okay Av-chan."

"Av-chan…" Avina repeated slowly before the hologram smiled dreamily.

"So you're sure you can't let me in?" Ranma asked again.

"Hmm…oh my. I'm very sorry Ranma, but I am unable to override the security locks."

"Oh…"

"But the human embassy is up there." Avina pointed up and to her right. Ranma leaned past the hologram to see the balcony she was pointing at. "As you can see, access could be gained by climbing."

"Thanks Av-chan!" Ranma grinned. "You're the best VI I've ever met. The only one too, but still the bestest. See ya later!" Ranma rushed outside.

"Teehee! Come back any time!" the hologram giggled like a schoolgirl.

Ranma slid to a halt and frowned as a foreboding chill ran through her. 'Fiancée senses tingling…' Ranma thought looking around nervously. She didn't see anything fiancée shaped approaching and slowly relaxed. 'Don't be silly Ranma. They're all still back in Nerima.' she chided herself.

"Right! Time to get my money changed!" Ranma exclaimed loudly enough to startle the human couple who were wandering past her. Ranma braced her legs and then thrust herself into the air. She shot up like a rocket, passing the balcony easily. For a brief moment, at the apex of her jump, she hung weightless in the air before the artificial gravity took control again. She saw two human men and one Turian talking with a holographic image of a third human below her as she began to descend. The older, grey haired man suddenly turned and began walking over towards the balcony.

"Is that the kind of person we *want* protecting the galaxy?" the older man was saying as Ranma realised he had walked right underneath where she was going to land.

"Oh crap. Look out below!" Ranma called out a warning as she descended towards the unaware man.

"That's -" Captain Anderson was cut off by the sudden shouted out warning. He looked up in surprise. As did the Turian, Nihlus.

Ambassador Udina looked around in surprise before realising a shadow was growing over him. He looked up in time to see Ranma before she slammed into him. They both went sprawling across the office, coming to a halt with Udina pinned under the short girl.

"Oops." Ranma stated at the shocked looks she was getting. Udina moved underneath her and let out startled noises. Ranma quickly got off him and went to help the diplomat up.

"Sorry about that." Ranma apologised helping Udina sit up.

"Gah! Yu've brok my noise!" Udina held his fingers to his bleeding nostrils. His eyes streamed tears from the pain.

"Oh man, I'm really sorry. Let me fix that." Ranma forced his hands away and quickly reset his nose by pinching it and giving it a tug. She pushed a little ki into it too to help it set. Udina shrieked like a little girl as Ranma fixed the damage. He batted her hands away.

"Help she's trying to kill me!" Udina shouted as he scuttled away from Ranma, holding his nose all the way. He pointed a finger accusingly.

"Hey! I said I was sorry! And I fixed your nose!" Ranma hopped to her feet and shouted down at the Ambassador.

Captain Anderson quickly moved over to check Udina and to hopefully calm the situation down.

"Calm down Ambassador." Anderson soothed. "Let me check that. Hmm, doesn't seem broken, just bruised." The Captain turned to regard Ranma.

"Are you sure Anderson? It certainly feels broken." Udina complained snorting a fresh blob of blood onto his white suit.

"It'll be fine. I made sure." Ranma stated helpfully from the side.

Nihlus moved over to the balcony after accessing the situation. He didn't believe they were in any danger from the girl who had suddenly crashed into the office. Though he suspected she was going to be in big trouble in a few minutes. The Turian Spectre placed his hands on the edge of the balcony and looked up. There were no balconies above the embassies, just to prevent someone dropping in unexpectedly during private talks such as these. His face plates shifted into a frown. She couldn't have climbed up the walls, they were too smooth and unless she jumped from a moving vehicle he couldn't figure out how she had come to be falling from such a height. Nihlus turned back into the room and awaited for the explanation.

"I'm calling C-Sec!" Udina sent a glare at Ranma as Anderson helped him stand. "You're in serious trouble young lady!"

"Let's just all calm down." Anderson tried to regain control of the situation. "Who are you? And how did you end up in a position to be falling onto the Ambassador?".

"I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry about that." Ranma replied.

"I need a squad of officers sent to the human embassy this moment!" Udina was talking to someone in C-Sec from a terminal across the room. "There's a violent psychopath trying to kill me!"

"I don't think that's necessary, Ambassador." Anderson called over and was ignored.

"What's his problem?" Ranma asked leaning to look around the Captain.

"Between you and me…" Anderson leant down to whisper to Ranma. "I think you broke the stick up his ass." He straightened up and continued aloud. "But you did interrupt an important meeting. This is very serious. You're going to be in quite a bit of trouble unfortunately."

"Feh. When am I not?" Ranma waved off the problem dismissively.

"If I may ask," Nihlus interrupted. "How exactly did you come to be falling on the Ambassador?"

"Oh right! This is the human embassy right?"

"That's correct." Anderson nodded.

"Great! I needed to talk with you guys but Av-chan-"

"Av-chan?" Nihlus queried.

"The cute Veeye outside." Ranma stated to nods of realisation. "Av-chan said the door was locked but I could probably just climb in to see you. It's important."

"That doesn't sound like something the Citadel's VI would be programmed to do." Nihlus folded his arms, suspecting Ranma was lying. "So you climbed up the wall and fell."

"Nah. I jumped up here."

"You…jumped up here?" Anderson said disbelievingly. "That's impossible!"

"Huh? It's only the first floor." Ranma rolled her eyes. "That's nothing to a martial artist like myself. I mean, even Akane can manage that easily."

Anderson and Nihlus exchanged a glance that said "Be careful. She seems delusional."

Ranma didn't miss the sudden change in the pair's stances. "So…anyway. I need my money changed to credits so I can buy some food. I was told this is the place." Ranma reached into her pockets and pulled out a handful of coins much the sudden tensing of her audience. They relaxed at seeing the harmless coins.

"You broke into a private meeting and assaulted me so you could get your money exchanged!?" Udina rejoined the conversation with a shriek of disgust.

"Well yeah? I'm hungry." Ranma stated and as if to punctuate the remark her stomach growled loudly. All eyes looked down at Ranma's stomach as she rubbed the back of her head and gave a weak chuckle.

The door to the rear of the room slid open and four C-Sec officers, two humans and two Turians spilled into the room, guns drawn and seeking a target. Ranma didn't know exactly what was going on but when four armed people burst into a room, her reactions took over.

"Arrest that girl!" Udina demanded seconds before the C-Sec officer's guns all sparked as something slammed into them and sent them flying out of their hands. Udina shrieked in terror and dived behind one of the desks as a red and black blur shot across the room. The four disarmed officer's were thrown one after the other by blows too quick to follow against the far wall. They landed in a groaning heap as Ranma reappeared by the desks.

"Wow. Do you guys get attacked a lot as well?" Ranma turned back to Anderson and Nihlus. Nihlus had his rifle drawn and was aiming it at her. Anderson looked ready to fight as well. With a sinking feeling Ranma thought, 'Oh great. I think I wasn't supposed to beat them up. Typical.'

"Ah…maybe I should be going…" Ranma stated slowly.

"I think not." Nihlus informed her, keeping her in his sights.

"No, I really think I should be going…" Ranma stated as she went to move.

Nihlus didn't hesitate to pull the trigger, firing a grain of sand sized projectile at supersonic speeds. The far wall sparked and cratered from the impact as Ranma had sidestepped before he had even finished pulling the trigger. Nihlus stood stunned. 'Nobody is fast enough to dodge these weapons!' he thought in shock. The next thing he knew was Ranma slapping his gun from his hands.

"Sorry about this." Nihlus heard Ranma say as her heel came around and slammed into his armour, sending him careening across the room. Udina had poked his head out to see what had happened and ended up buried underneath a surprised Spectre.

Ranma turned to face the only person still standing. Anderson brought his fists up in a boxing stance for all the good he expected it to do against this girl who had just demolished four C-Sec officers and a Spectre.

"I should be going." Ranma remarked and back-flipped over the balcony and out of the embassy. Anderson blinked for a moment in surprise that he was still fine before rushing over to the balcony. He placed both hands onto the ledge and stared down. Ranma had landed crouched on all fours like a gargoyle on the fence that ran around the lake. She stood smoothly and raced off along the narrow ledge and disappeared into the distance.

"What in the world just happened…?" Anderson asked nobody in particularity.

"I believe we just got our asses handed to us, as you humans say." Nihlus stated as he joined Anderson in watching the red head vanish from sight.

"This is an outrage!" Udina appeared now the fighting was over. "That terrorist has to be hunted down right this instant!"

Anderson exchanged a glance with Nihlus before replying. "Ambassador, I got the feeling she was telling the truth. Or at least thought she was. I feel she didn't mean to attack us."

"I agree with the Captain." Nihlus stated. "She had ample time to do more than just throw us around."

"Didn't mean to! She broke my nose! Do you have any idea how bad this makes us look Captain? If we can't even deal with a single terrorist! We must capture her and make an example!"

"I'll get right on it Ambassador." Anderson relented just to pacify Udina.

"Good." Udina spun on his heel. "If you need me, I'll be in my office with an icepack."

Anderson squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose as he shook his head. Udina was difficult to please at the best of times, and he had taken this Ranma's quite possibly accidental assault personally. 'This is not how I wanted to spend the rest of my career. Tiptoeing around politicians all day.'

"Captain. Take a look at this." Nihlus's surprised voice brought Anderson out of his thoughts.

"What is it?" he wandered over to where the Spectre was crouched. Nihlus stood back up smoothly and handed him one of the C-Sec officer's guns. Anderson took it and turned it over, examining it. His eyes widened in surprise at the sight. He had to double check it, just in case his eyes were playing tricks.

"Is this real?" Anderson stated wide eyed.

"As far as I can tell." Nihlus replied. "All four guns are ruined. Each with a coin fused halfway down the barrel."

"How did she do that?"

Nihlus picked up another gun and ran a digit over the melted lump of metal that had once been a coin. It stuck half out the barrel, where it had torn down one side before becoming embedded.

"I didn't see, but my guess is she threw them."

"That's impossible!" Anderson exclaimed.

"She wasn't carrying any weapons that I could see." Nihlus turned to Anderson. "I can only guess she's a biotic, and is somehow capable of copying the methods used in our guns."

"But…Using a mass effect field to accelerate a coin to supersonic speeds? The control required for that is beyond anything I've heard of in a human. Not even many of the Asari have that sort of control."

They both went silent contemplating the possibilities.

"What now?" Anderson asked first.

"For now, I'm going to track her down." Nihlus stated moving over to retrieve his rifle. He checked it make sure it was undamaged and reattached it his armour.

"Do you need any help?"

"No. I work faster alone." The Spectre stated leaving the room.

x-X-x

Ranma kept running until she had put plenty of distance between her and the embassy. She mentally berated herself for getting too excited and causing more trouble than she needed. All she wanted was to get some food. Was that too much to ask?

She dropped back to the walkway after running along a ledge high above the rest of the Presidium. Making sure she saw none of the local police force, or Turians, she had enough of them already to last a lifetime, Ranma stepped out of the shadowy alcove she had landed in and walked over to a bench, shaded by the tree behind it, overlooking the lake. She sat down and placed her chin in her hands and let out a dejected sigh.

"I'm still hungry…"

A shadow fell over Ranma and something warm and squishy landed gently on her shoulder. Ranma turned to see a pink, shiny tentacle resting on her shoulder. Her eyes followed the appendage up to what she immediately labelled as a jellyfish. A big, pink, floating jellyfish with six tentacles.

"Greetings human. This one would enquire if this spot is taken-"

"Gah!" Ranma bolted away by back-flipping over the bench and up into the tree behind her.

The Hanar remained still, it's single tentacle still held where it had landed on Ranma's shoulder. It looked up into the tree in surprise.

"This one is startled…" The Hanar flickered with bioluminescence light inside it's body, almost in a pattern that suggest it was blinking in surprise. It floated a little closer to the tree, which suddenly shook. A few leaves came free and floated down.

"Stay back!" Ranma called down from her perch in the tree.

"This one curiously asks if you are feeling well?" The Hanar tried to be helpful as the human seemed to be nervous. "It wishes to assist if you need it."

"Hah! That's what you want me to think! I've seen what you do to girls in those manga Hiroshi and Daisuke had."

"…" The Hanar continued to stare up into the tree not understanding. "This one is confused. What has this one done to you human?"

"You? Nothing yet." Ranma's upside-down head popped out from underneath the leaves of the tree as she addressed the Hanar. "And you ain't going to get chance to!" She quickly vanished back up into the tree.

The Hanar floated backwards away from the tree in surprise. After a moment of deliberation the Hanar once again tried to talk with the human. "This one means you no harm. It only wishes to rest in the shade of this tree."

"Really?" Ranma's head reappeared. She eyed the Hanar suspiciously.

"This one would not lie to you." The Hanar slowly made to leave. "But it can see you are suspicious of this one's motives. It will leave you alone. It merely wanted a place to rest."

"Hey, if you're just looking for a place to rest, that spot was free." Ranma's conscious got the better of her as she heard the sadness in the Hanar's voice. The Hanar paused and turned back once again.

"You are willing to share this spot after all?"

"I guess." Ranma replied dropping onto the bench again. She shuffled to the furthest spot away from the Hanar as it returned to where they had met. "But you better keep your tentacles to yourself, or you'll be wearing them as bows."

"Ahh. This one understands. Initiating physical contact without asking first is considered impolite amongst humans. This one will not do such again."

"You better not." Ranma stated and promised to keep an eye on the Hanar at all times. Just in case.

"This one politely asks how long have you been on the Citadel?" The Hanar began to make small talk.

"Just a few hours, I think. Can't have been out for long."

"Oh. This one sees. You have recently arrived. As has this one. Are you alone?"

"Pretty much. At least until Ryouga finds me again."

"As is this one."

Ranma watched the Hanar from the corner of her eyes and slowly relaxed. The tentacle monster seemed polite, but that could be a ploy to make her let her guard down. "So why are you here?" Ranma asked.

"This one came to spread the word about the Enkindlers. However, the residents have been most unwilling to listen."

"Why?"

"The honourable C-Sec officer claims, this one, needs a permit to tell the truth."

"C-Sec." Ranma muttered displeased. She had only been awake for a while and had already heard that word far too many times already. So far her run-ins, with those guys weren't one of her best moments. "Those jerks have been bothering you too huh?"

"That is true. This one is too polite to ignore their laws though."

"So why don't you get one of those permits?" Ranma asked turning to face the Hanar.

"This one has no money…" The Hanar stated with embarrassment.

"I have. But it useless here and I can't get it changed. Had to waste four-hundred yen too." Ranma stated. They both sighed at the same time.

"Excuse me Miss." A guy in his twenties approached the pair. He looked like he hadn't slept for a couple of days, greasy, messy dark hair and sunken eyes. A few days worth of stubble lined his jaw. "I couldn't help overhearing that you're alone and needed money exchanged." He licked his lips nervously as his eyes darted rapidly about.

"What's it to you?" Ranma stated sharply as warning bells went off in her head.

"I'm Jaret. I own a shop in the market district. I do money exchanges and other supplies." Jaret explained.

"Really? That's convenient." Ranma stated in a tone that said she wasn't convinced. "I was told only the embassy did that."

"It's off the records." Jaret responded quickly.

"Under-the-counter stuff eh?" Ranma replied slyly.

"Shush! Keep it down." Jaret glanced around again. "Look, it's nothing illegal. But I should have permits for the stuff okay."

"This one does not like the sound of your business." The Hanar stated.

"Is the Jellyfish with you?"

"This one takes offence at your words!" The Hanar sounded disgusted as it ruffled up in annoyance.

"I'd apologise to…" Ranma had to pause as she didn't know the Hanar's name. "What's your name anyway?" She asked her floating acquaintance.

"This one can be referred to as, One Who Comes To Preach."

"Right…apologise to Preacher." Ranma told Jaret.

"Err…sorry?"

"This one will humbly accept your apology." The newly dubbed Preacher replied.

"So you claim you can give me a transfer?" Ranma stood up.

"That's right." Jaret turned his attention back to Ranma. "How much you got?"

"About fifty-thousand yen." Ranma stated. "I need it in those credits."

"Fifty-thousand yen." Jaret mumbled as he held his arm up and a glowing orange interface popped up around his arm. He typed the data in as Ranma studied the holographic interface in interest. That was a neat trick she thought. "With the current exchange rate and a small commission you'll have nearly two thousand credits. Come along and I'll sort you out."

"Fine." Ranma agreed after a moment. She doubted this guy could cause her any problems anyway, if he was trying to rob her. She'd just beat him up a little.

"Excellent!" Jaret exclaimed, far too happily. "Follow me Miss." He set off at a brisk pace.

"Excuse me." Preacher held a tentacle up as Ranma passed. The pigtailed martial artist took a wary step away from the Hanar. "This one would offer to come with you. This one does not trust that human."

"That's okay. Neither do I." Ranma replied. "I can deal with him by myself."

"This one would not feel comfortable leaving you alone. This one would not sleep well if it found out you had been hurt when it could have prevented such an occurrence."

"I'll be fine."

"This one still wishes to make certain."

"Okay then, come along. But remember what I said about tentacles." Ranma said and took off after Jaret with Preacher floating after her.

"Is the je – Hanar coming too?" Jaret asked in surprise as he noticed the Hanar following as well.

"You got a problem with him?" Ranma asked.

"No. No. Let's just go."

Jaret led them down the street until they came to a doorway with a sign saying "To the Markets." The door led to a corridor, lit in a faintly blue lighting. As they approached the glass door at the far end, Ranma realised it was a lift.

The ride down to the markets was a long and nerve-wracking one for Ranma, being in close proximity to Preacher, but he behaved himself and never once lifted a tentacle. Ranma began to trust that the Hanar wasn't actually going to try anything and those manga had been unrealistic after all. When a news report suddenly blurted out Ranma had actually flinched at the sudden noise.

"Man, does this thing ever stop?" Ranma commented to quickly hide the fact she had jumped.

"Yeah, everybody complains about the speed of the elevators. Nobody does anything about them though." Jaret stated.

When the elevator finally came to a halt, Jaret led them through the dark streets. Ranma took in all the new sights and sounds. The closest place Ranma could describe it like was Singapore. She and her father had passed through once after swimming across the sea. The more they followed Jaret deeper into the Wards, the more Ranma noticed the areas getting seedier. She remained relaxed in appearance as she walked along, but inside she was ready for anything.

She spotted a few new species down on the Wards. Large bulky looking dinosaur like people that took delight in glaring at them as they passed by and some way shorter than herself little guys in spacesuits.

"This is the place." Jaret suddenly announced outside a doorway. He pressed a switch and the door opened. He let Ranma and Preacher in first then followed.

Inside the place was just a small room littered with a few crates and single desk and terminal. A Krogan looked up from where he leant against the desk. Two fully armoured up Salarians, faces hidden behind masks also turned to the opened door.

"Well, well, well. Jaret." The Krogan rumbled in a gravelly voice and stepped away from the desk. "You actually had the quads to come in here."

"Hey, Okar." Jaret nervously greeted.

"I take it by me not having to hunt you down you have the credits you worthless addict?" Okar approached them. He stopped before Jaret and glared.

"This girl has money. You'll have to get it exchanged but it will cover my debt." Jaret explained shoving Ranma in front of the Krogan. He held onto her shoulders. Ranma didn't look impressed but she allowed the manhandling.

"This one knew this was a bad idea…" Preacher stated in worry.

"About what I'd expect from you Jaret." Okar sniffed in disgust as he turned his attention to Ranma. "I take it you didn't have any idea about this girl."

"Nope." Ranma grinned up cheerfully.

"Heh. Well then hand it over and then get outta my sight you worms." Okar stated turning away.

"Like hell ugly." Ranma grinned like an idiot. Jaret's eyes went wide and his finger gripped her tighter in shock. Okar rounded on the still grinning Ranma. His Salarian guards reached for their guns.

"She didn't mean that-" Jaret tried to explain.

"Yes I did." Ranma piped up.

"No she didn't!" Jaret squeaked in terror.

"Did I hear correctly?" Okar asked getting right in Ranma's face. He snorted at her.

"Depends." Ranma continued grinning, unconcerned about the far larger Krogan glaring daggers at her. "If you heard me say you weren't getting my money and you're ugly then yeah."

Okar's lips drew back slightly, almost in a smirk. "You're either brave or very, very stupid human."

"Listen, this guy promised to get my money changed so I could then go buy myself some breakfast. I feel like I ain't eaten for days and I'm hungry. You won't like me when I'm hungry." Ranma continued smiling. "I'm not leaving until I get my credits."

Okar's red eyes bored into Ranma's blue as they stared each other down, until Okar looked up, away from Ranma to Jaret who was sweating in terror.

"You know what happens to sand-blasted addicts who don't pay their debts." Okar growled.

"Take the girl! She's got to be worth more than me!" Jaret quickly said. "At least five thousand credits to the right buyer right? That more than my debt!"

"Five thousand?" Ranma sounded scandalised. "I'm worth at least double that."

"Yeah! To the right buyer she's worth loads. They love them pretty young girls!" Jaret exclaimed. "I'll even throw the jellyfish in for free right!"

"The Hanar is worthless to slavers. And how do I know your not pulling a fast one? You humans all look the same to me." Okar growled.

"Hey! I may not like being a girl, but at least I'm a damned pretty one!" Ranma exclaimed.

"Are you trying to make me actually take you as his payment?" Okar stared in surprise.

"Actually I'd like to see you try, you overgrown geko." Ranma smirked her best annoying smirk. The tension that filled the room could have been cut with a knife.

"I'm going to enjoy breaking every bone in your soft body human." Okar snarled reaching out for Ranma's throat. She didn't stay still to let him catch her. Stepping forward she casually deflected his arm with her own and then slammed over three hundred blows into the Krogan's pelvic area in less than a second. Okar's eyes bulged and he dropped to floor clutching between his legs. "Ahh! Right in the quads!"

Jaret's eyes threatened to fall out of his head at seeing Okar drop in what looked to be a single blow by the tiny girl he had led here. Preacher dived behind some crates as the Salarians opened fire after only a moment to get over their surprise.

Ranma casually stepped around the projectiles, always one step ahead of the Salarians as they littered the room with gunfire. Jaret joined Preacher behind the crate and began praying to God.

Within seconds Ranma had closed the gap between her and the Salarians. She kicked one's gun out of his hand, followed through with another kick, knocking the second's into the air as well. She caught the two weapons and spun them around her pointer fingers.

"Looking for these?" She asked the Salarians who clutched at their wrists in surprise and pain. Ranma brought the two guns together with a clack, and in a show of strength proceeded to crush them into a ball of broken metal and plastics. She handed the ball to the nearest one who took it absently in shock. They glanced at each other and then at the grinning human girl. Then without a word they fled past her and out the door without looking back.

Jaret and Preacher had poked their head, and what passed for a head, over the crate to stare in awe at Ranma. Behind her, Okar climbed to his feet, growling in rage.

"I'll rip you apart!" The angry Krogan bellowed as he charged towards Ranma. She hopped lightly over the charging Krogan and Okar flew underneath her harmlessly until he slammed into the wall, being unable to stop in time.

"Wow. Ugly and stupid. Your parents must be proud." Ranma remarked as she landed lightly while Okar shook off the self inflicted blow.

"Bitch!" Okar attempted to grab her but found himself flying through the air as Ranma caught one of his outstretched arms and flipped him over onto his back with a thud. She then grabbed hold of the front of his armour and squeezed. Okar saw her petite fingers sink into his armour as if it were play-dough and not toughened steel weave, and then she dragged him across the floor, lifted the heavy Krogan up and slammed him back into the wall. He found himself held up by the tiny human and could only stare in stunned silence.

Okar went to fight back when a feeling of absolute fear washed over him freezing him in place. Ranma's face was no longer grinning, she stared at him with hard eyes. Shadows danced across her face as she used her battle aura and killing intent to freeze the Krogan. He had never felt so certain of defeat than he did at this moment.

"You know one thing I hate more than being hungry?" Ranma stated pushing back against the pinned and frozen Krogan. His armour groaned and folded in on itself, pressing tight against his throat and slowly making it harder for him to breathe. "Those that prey on those weaker than themselves. And slavery has got to be the worst form of that." Ranma punctuated that remark with another push, cutting off Okar's ability to breathe. Ranma held Okar for another ten seconds to make sure he got the point before pulling his armour apart at the throat and allowing him to breathe once more.

She stepped to the side and the Krogan hit the floor on his hands and knees, gasping for breath. After Okar caught his breath he turned his head towards Ranma and stared up at her in disbelief as he rubbed at his throat.

"What are you?" the Krogan asked.

"I'm Ranma Saotome of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts." Ranma stated proudly. "I'm the best there is, and I hate slavers. Oh and being hungry."

"I don't deal in slaves." Okar stated regaining his feet. "Only addicts like Jaret get handed over to those that supply the red sand if they can't pay. As far as I'm concerned they bring it on themselves." Okar wandered over towards the desk. "Heh, you're a heck of a fighter human. I can respect that. Here." Okar tossed something at Ranma who caught it easily. She stared at the cards. "That's the money I pay for those two guards that ran away like scared children. You deserve that more than they do. Take it and go."

"What about him?" Ranma pointed at Jaret who was edging slowly towards the exit. He froze.

"What do you care? He tried to auction you off to pay for his debt?" Okar snorted.

"I don't really, but no one deserves to be a slave." Ranma stated.

"Well…I think a few broken bones will ease my anger…" Okar grinned sadistically. Ranma thought about it for a moment.

"He deserves it, I guess. Just make sure he gets sent to the police or whatever passes as them here. Alive!" Ranma demanded.

"I swear on my forefather's honour he'll live." Okar stated. Ranma gave the Krogan a nod as she felt his words were true. "Come on Preacher, lets get outta here." Ranma said walking towards the exit.

"This one could not agree more with those words." The Hanar quickly followed.

"Ranma Saotome!" Okar called just as the door slid open. Ranma glanced back over her shoulder with one hand on the door frame. "May you find strong opponents to fight."

She nodded in reply as one warrior to another before leaving Jaret to his quite likely painful fate.

x-X-x

From a darkened corner, Nihlus watched the red haired girl leave the building with the Hanar. He studied her back intently.

"Ranma Saotome eh…an interesting girl."

x-X-x

"This one cannot believe what it witnessed." Preacher stated excitedly as they left the lift and walked back towards the Presidium. "You were amazing."

"I am the best after all." Ranma remarked proudly.

"This one was sure we were doomed. But you were all…woosh. Punch. Kick. Jump. And…amazing. This one feels as if you are a sign."

"A sign?" Ranma looked up at the floating Hanar.

"Yes. This one was unsure whether it was worth spreading the word of the Enkindlers to those here that tried to silence this one. You have inspired me to stand for what this one believes. I must take my leave of you Ranma Saotome and go forth and spread enlightenment to all. This one shall not be moved from this path! Fare you well."

"See ya around." Ranma waved as the Hanar moved off along the street. A grumble from her stomach reminded her of why she went through all that trouble just recently. "Food!"

Ranma quickly raced back along the Presidium towards Sloark's food bar. She dived onto one of the stools.

"Hey, hey! I got the money." Ranma exclaimed to the surprise of one Turian customer and Sloark.

"Oh, you're back…I thought with the length of time you were gone for you'd have given up and gone to find a human restaurant." Sloark remarked.

"It took longer than I expected. The guys at the embassy weren't very helpful and then I had to beat up a dinosaur, but here I am. You promised to feed me if I paid." Ranma grinned cheesily as she flashed the credits.

"Wow, Sloark. You're feeding humans now?" the Turian customer asked. "Should I be ready to call an ambulance?" he chuckled.

"That's what I'm afraid of actually Garrus." Sloark muttered under his breath. "Fine. I promised to try and make something you could eat."

"Thanks! You're the best." Ranma smiled.

"Got yourself an admirer." Garrus chuckled finishing off his food.

"You can keep your witticisms to yourself if you want me to keep making stuff for you." Sloark grumbled as he worked away.

"Now that's unfair." Garrus chuckled. He turned to Ranma curiously and studied her. "Were you in a fight?" he asked pointing at her bandages.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. There was this arrogant jerk who was trying to kill me." Ranma explained.

"What? Did you report him to C-Sec?"

"Err, no."

"Why not? If someone is trying to kill you, you should." Garrus said.

"Ah, he was only trying to kill me a little. Anyway I lived. Next time I'm gonna kick his butt into next year."

"You're a strange one." Garrus remarked, unsure if she was actually telling the truth with the casual way she described someone trying to kill her. "But you really should report this guy to C-Sec. We could protect you."

"You're with C-Sec?" Ranma asked as the temperature dropped sharply around them.

"Yeah I am. Why?"

"I've had nothing but trouble with you guys." Ranma turned away from Garrus with a sniff.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Well, next time one bothers you ask them for their badge number and report them to me. I can look into it for you."

"Here you go girl." Sloark interrupted them by sliding a plate before Ranma. "I hope neither of us regrets this."

"Finally!" Ranma cheered picking up the fork. She studied the food for a moment. There were some green leafy vegetables and other round speckled ones she didn't recognise, along with a lot of little dark round shell looking things. Ranma shrugged and picked up one of the shell things.

"Now with those you break off -" Garrus stated seeing Ranma hesitate a moment. He stopped talking in surprise as Ranma popped it in her moth and went to chew it. " - the shell…" Garrus trailed off.

Crunch!

Ranma chewed through the hard shell to the shock of both Turians.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Then it was gone.

"Hmm, kinda crunchy." Ranma remarked. "Slightly coppery taste. But not bad." she quickly began eating the rest, shells and all.

Both Sloark and Garrus had their jaws hanging open as Ranma devoured the meal in seconds, even with crunching through the shells you weren't actually meant to eat.

"Not bad." Ranma patted her stomach. "Different."

"Did I see what I think I saw?" Garrus asked turning to Sloark.

"If you saw her just devour a full meal in seconds, shells and all…then…yeah."

"Can I have a few more of those crunchy things?" Ranma asked.

"No swelling. No sweating. She looks okay. Phew!" Sloark sighed in relief as Ranma seemed fine. "Sure kid. I got a few more of the…shells-"

"No I meant the whole meal. A few more plates should do it."

"Plates?" Sloark and Garrus chorused.

"Well yeah! I need to keep my strength up!" Ranma grinned.

"I…I guess so." Sloark mumbled and went back to work. A few minutes later they were given a repeat performance of the Saotome vacuum cleaner.

"Okay…the next one I need to get on video and play it back in slow-mo." Garrus remarked setting his visor up to record Ranma as the girl patted her stomach.

"Ah, keep em coming." Ranma grinned.

Another Turian slid onto the stood between Garrus and Ranma. He placed his elbows onto the bar top and hands together as he leant forward. It was Nihlus. Garrus recognised the Spectre.

"Nihlus Kryik…what brings one of the Council's best Spectres here?"

"Ranma Saotome." Nihlus addressed Ranma. "You're a hard woman to track down."

"Liar." Ranma stated as she continued to wait for another plate. "You've been following me at least from since I met with Preacher. What do you want?"

"Impressive." Nihlus remarked. "I never suspected you had noticed me."

"The white face-paint is very distinct and easy to spot." Ranma stated. "Your ki signature is strong as well and you made no effort to hide it."

'Ki?' Nihlus filed the word away for later perusal. "A girl with no records just so happens to show up on the Citadel and proceeds to wreak havoc and chaos wherever she goes. Interrupts a private embassy meeting. Takes out four C-Sec officers without even trying and catches even me by surprise. Then she takes on a Krogan and his guards. Not only wins, but demolishes them in hand-to-hand combat. All without wearing any armour or carrying a weapon. You are an extremely talented individual. An extremely dangerous one."

"I've not killed anyone. I've not permanently hurt anyone. It's not my fault trouble finds me." Ranma remarked. "Anyway, I'll be gone soon. I need to get home and sort out my…problem. And you can't blame me for that Jaret guy."

"Oh I'm not blaming you. In fact I'm very, very interested in your abilities. People like you are rare indeed." Nihlus turned to face her. "Tell me Saotome, have you heard of the Spectres?"

End of Chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

Wild Effect

Sloarkies had fallen into silence after Nihlus had described Ranma's exploits. Ranma kept herself ready in case the Turian, Nihlus, wasn't here to just talk. Sloark, the chef was staring wide eyed and slack-jawed at hearing what he thought was a Spectre recruiting. Recruiting a human of all things.

Garrus leaned back and folded his arms. He listened in carefully, this was big.

"Unless you're talking about ghosts, no I haven't." Ranma responded flatly, her voice betraying no emotion. In her experience, when someone talked to her this way, it meant they were after something. Nihlus had tried to shoot her once already, which put him on the foe list, possibly a friend later on, as most of her friends had started out wanting to kill her at one point.

"I see." Nihlus responded. His mandibles twitched slightly as he thought about how to word his questions. The girl was on edge, even if she didn't betray it in her body language. He suspected it was from earlier. He had reacted a little too strongly to the situation, he admitted to himself. "The Spectres are the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel. They-"

"Not interested." Ranma interrupted.

"I hadn't finished." Nihlus didn't seem at all concerned by the interruption.

"I know. I've no intention of getting recruited into some special forces right now. I've got my own problems I need to fix and to get home. You're wasting your time."

"It's my time to waste. Will you hear me out?"

"Fine." Ranma relented.

"Spectres are an elite group, selected from the different species that work for the Citadel Council. Outstanding individuals that have proven themselves above the rank and file. They have one primary goal, preserve galactic stability by any means necessary. They are above the law and will do whatever it takes to complete their mission. Spectres either work alone or in small groups depending on what style they prefer."

"You make them sound like a bunch of James Bonds." Ranma snorted. "So are they supposed to go around and shoot people who fall onto annoying Ambassadors?"

"Not really. In my defence, what was I supposed to think seeing how you took out that squad?" Nihlus gave a tiny cough.

"You're the shoot first, don't bother with questions as they're a corpse kinda guy?"

"And you're the destroy their weapons and knock them out kinda girl?"

"Ah…" Ranma frowned as she had no comeback to that. "Fine, we both overreacted. So is that why you want to recruit me?"

"It is only the very best we need, people with exceptional skills. Usually those that have served in the military or law enforcement for a while. You've caught my eye. Not only are you skilled, fast and strong. But most importantly, you're honourable. You could have done much worse to that Jaret than letting the Krogan break a few bones."

"Nobody deserved to be enslaved." Ranma stated. "Bones will heal and it may teach him a lesson."

"Agreed. Although personally, I'd have shot him."

Ranma eyed Nihlus disapprovingly.

"In the legs." he finished with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Heh." Ranma shook here head in amusement.

"Now about signing up…"

"I told you I'm not interested."

Nihlus continued regardless. "Technically you wouldn't be signing up to join right at this very moment. I'd like to sign you up as a *potential* candidate. This wouldn't mean you had to drop what you are doing this instant and follow orders. Spectres, if nothing are very flexible. Also, even if I put your name forward as a recommendation, you would need to be assessed."

"Assessed?" Ranma turned to face the Spectre.

"Yes. Abilities. Character. Background. Spectres carry an immense responsibility on their shoulders. We have to be carefully chosen. We are beyond the law, our actions unquestioned. You can see that we have to make certain that someone elevated to the level of a Spectre is of sound character and will not abuse their position." Nihlus explained and Ranma listened intently. "Take me for instance. I could right now, draw my gun and blow off your head and both of these two as well. Nobody would question me as to why and assume it was part of my mission."

Ranma frowned at the implications. She didn't like the idea that someone had the power that they could just murder anyone they choose in cold blood and no one would think it wrong.

"An extreme example, but one well within the bounds of reality." Nihlus added at seeing the dark look appear on the girl's face.

"Have many Spectres abused their power?" Ranma asked coldly.

"I'd be lying if I said none." Nihlus stated.

"What happens when one does?"

"Their status is revoked and other Spectres are sent to eliminate them."

"If they're above the law, how do you tell if one has gone bad?"

"Although our actions are unquestioned, we are watched. Too many excesses, brutality, bad habits, any of these may trigger an investigation." Nihlus waited a moment to see if Ranma would ask another question. She didn't. "Getting back to you, as I said, if you agree to be assessed, it doesn't mean you have to do anything yet. You can take your time going home and sorting whatever problems out you need to. In fact, I would be pleased to aid you in anyway, as the more time spent with you, the better the assessment."

"Thanks for the offer, but I can deal with my own problems."

"You're certain?"

"Yep! I just need to walk back to Nerima from wherever we are…" Ranma trailed off at the sudden look of confusion that crossed Nihlus's face. "What?"

"One second." Nihlus raised his right arm and the slowly becoming familiar to Ranma, holographic interface popped up over it. He keyed in something and Ranma saw his mandibles twitch again. "Ranma, say that again?"

"Err, walk back to Nerima?"

"That's what I thought you said." Nihlus stated. He turned to fully face the human girl. "Do you actually know exactly where you are?"

"The Citadel?" Ranma offered unsurely, knowing that was the name of the place from the conversations she had been involved in with Avina.

"Do you know where the Citadel is?" Nihlus attempted the question again.

"Err…Japan?" Ranma guessed.

"Oh boy…" Nihlus muttered. "Ranma, the Citadel is located deep within the Serpent Nebula."

Ranma just blinked up at him in reply.

"You have no idea what I'm talking about…do you?"

"Heh, heh, heh. You've got me there." Ranma grinned goofily and nervously rubbed the back of her head.

"The Citadel is a massive space station. You're millions of light-years away from earth."

Ranma blinked and paused in her rubbing. "Haha! Very funny. Pull the other one. Next you're going to tell me you're all aliens and not oni. Oh and you're not actually speaking Japanese too! Hahaha!"

Nihlus just stared down at the girl, his face unreadable.

"Ranma…I need to show you something." Nihlus climbed down off the stool. "Follow me."

"Umm…will this involve another elevator ride?"

"Ahh, yeah…unfortunately."

x-X-x

"Holy shit!" Ranma so very eloquently put it. She wasn't one to usually swear but those were the only words she could manage at the moment. "Holy shit!" she repeated, her breath steaming up the window she currently had her face and hands plastered against. She stared out of the window of one of the observation lounges near to top of the Citadel Tower.

The entire Citadel lay out before her. The four other massive arms, covered in office blocks and lights twinkled below, to the sides and above her. Wherever she looked, lights sparkled like stars. Some stationary, others moving, the headlights on the flying cars people used to travel around the Citadel.

Various sized space faring vessels moved in and out of the docking bays, a constant stream of traffic bringing in and sending out goods. But the most impressive thing to catch Ranma's eyes was the massive dreadnought that drifted past the window. It was the largest man-made or alien-made thing she had ever seen, a ship with a hollow central oval shaped section and from the top, bottom and sides wing like protrusions. Just the sheer size inspired awe and made her feel tiny. But even the dreadnought was dwarfed by the Citadel itself.

"That is the Destiny Ascension." Nihlus informed the stunned girl as it drifted by. "It is an Asari dreadnought and flagship of the Citadel Fleet. It has almost as much fire-power as the rest of the Asari fleet combined and is currently commanded by the Asari Matriarch Lidanya. The Ascension is four times the size of the largest human ship, and boasts a crew of nearly ten thousand. It is considered to be the most formidable warship in the galaxy, with heavy kinetic barriers and powerful weaponry."

"This is…this is really in space?" Ranma could not tear her eyes from the sight of the stars beyond the citadel's arms, slow spinning. It captivated her. She had spent many nights staring up into the vastness of space and wondering about it. To see it like this was a completely different experience.

"Yes."

"Holy…Ryouga…you really did a number this time…" Ranma breathed in awe. "Hey, we're spinning." Ranma pointed out as she could see the massive sun in the distance moving across the sky.

"Correct. Although the Citadel is equipped with mass effect generating element zero cores, most of the gravity on the station is generated by the centrifugal force of rotation. The Citadel completes one full revolution every three and a half minutes." Nihlus explained. He let her absorb the sights for a few more minutes before asking what he needed to know. "Ranma, did you really have no idea you were not still on earth?"

"No." Ranma answered without taking her eyes off the view outside.

"Nothing at all? What of all the aliens?"

"I'm used to weird stuff happening and weird people. Err, no offence." she added quickly on the end.

"None taken. You're pretty odd yourself." Nihlus smirked.

"So," Ranma began turning to face the Turian. "Why do you all speak Japanese?"

"We don't." Nihlus remarked. "What you're hearing is a real-time translation of our native languages into your own, by your portable computer."

"Um, I'm pretty sure I don't have a portable computer." Ranma frowned.

"Are you left or right-handed?"

"Right. Why?"

"Hold out your right arm." Nihlus asked. Ranma did so and the Turian rolled her sleeve back. He tapped her bracer and Ranma leapt away in surprise as an orange interface popped up around her arm. She waved it around for a moment as if trying to dislodge the object before she realised she couldn't feel anything. Nihlus couldn't restrain the chuckle that escaped his mouth.

"What the?" Ranma exclaimed once she calmed down and began to poke her fingers through the hologram. "When did I get this?"

"You're telling me you didn't know you had that?"

"No! I've never had anything like this. Ever." Ranma replied.

"What's the last thing you remember? Before waking up here?" Nihlus asked.

"I was fighting…then…I'm pretty sure I got knocked out." Ranma struggled to remember.

"Anything else?"

"No…" Ranma rubbed her temples as a headache began growing.

"You're sure?"

"Yes damn it!" she snapped at the Turian as the headache flared. "Damn, now I've got a headache." Ranma grumbled and sat down on the large built-in lounger below the windows. She rubbed her temples.

"Ranma, I think we need to investigate this. My instincts are telling me there's more to this than we're seeing." Nihlus stated. Ranma looked up at him. "Where did you wake up? Can you show me?"

x-X-x

"Those elevators are beginning to piss me off." Ranma muttered as she and Nihlus exited back onto the Presidium.

"You can tell the Asari designed them." Nihlus chuckled. Ranma just eyed the Spectre curiously, not understanding. "Asari live for around a thousand years. Get it?" Nihlus expanded.

"Not really."

"They're never in a hurry…ah forget it." Nihlus gave up at the blank look. "Can you remember where you woke up?"

"Yeah. This way." Ranma set off along the walkways with Nihlus following alongside her. She soon traced her way back to the ledge she had woken up on.

"There it is." Ranma pointed. Nihlus quickly vaulted up onto the ledge just below it and then up onto the one Ranma pointed to. Ranma landed beside him after a single hop. They walked around the small area.

"All the stuff is gone." Ranma said staring down at the dug over patch of ground where the camp-fire had been.

"They were probably moved." Nihlus crouched down and picked up some of the disturbed soil and sniffed it carefully.

"By who?"

"Either the grounds-keeper, C-Sec, or even the Keepers could have taken them."

"Keepers?"

"The creatures that look after the Citadel. I'll show you one later." Nihlus dropped the earth and dusted any remaining from his hands.

"You!"

"Oh great…" Ranma groaned at the familiar voice that bellowed across the area. It was the grounds-keeper. He stomped over but kept his distance and pointed a digit at Ranma angrily.

"You! You!"

"Me. Me." Ranma replied. "Man, your vocabulary sucks."

"I'm calling C-"

"Back off." Nihlus appeared before the grounds-keeper. "She's with me."

"Who the hell do you think you are?" the grounds-keeper demanded. "That human is a vandal!"

"Nihlus Kryik. Council Spectre." Nihlus stated.

"I don't care if you're the – wait – Spec…Spectre?" the grounds-keeper stepped back in fear.

"That's right. I'm on Council business. You mind answering a few questions?"

"I…I…of c-course not."

Behind Nihlus Ranma mimed slitting her throat with her thumb and hung her tongue out the corner of her mouth. The grounds-keeper began trembling at the significance.

"The girl behind me woke up in a tent and had some camping equipment with her. Where is it?" Nihlus asked.

"I…it was thrown out…"

"Thrown out." Nihlus repeated darkly.

Ranma made a show of shaking her head and then mimed tying a rope around her neck. Then she mimed pulling the rope tight and hanging. After a moment she pointed at the grounds-keeper and smirked evilly. By this time the grounds-keeper was shaking uncontrollably.

"I…I didn't m-m-mean to!"

Ranma pointed a finger with her thumb in the air at him and mimed firing a gun.

"You didn't mean to. Hmm?" Nihlus finally took pity on the shaking grounds-keeper. He quickly and lightly slapped the back of Ranma's head without even looking.

"Ow." Ranma complained in reflex.

"Ignore her, you're not in any trouble." The Spectre assured. "Will her stuff have been through waste processing already?"

"Yes. I threw it down there immediately."

"Damn. Thanks for your help anyway." Nihlus nodded to the grounds-keeper and turned to leave. "Let's go Ranma."

"Right." Ranma followed Nihlus as he dropped off the ledge and landed lightly. She landed next to him and walked alongside. "Now what?"

"Now we check the Citadel's security cameras." Nihlus informed her. "Oh, and I'll be deducting points from your assessment for the childishness."

"How can you deduct points if I haven't agreed to the assessment?" Ranma countered.

"I can always start you off with negative points."

"No you can't."

"I'm a Spectre. I'm above the law." Nihlus smirked. Ranma had no real response to that.

"Where are we heading then?"

"C-Sec." Nihlus informed her. "They monitor the entire Citadel."

"How do we get there?"

"How do you think?" Nihlus chuckled heading towards the lifts.

"Awwwww maaaaan."

x-X-x

Ranma followed Nihlus as he led her down the steps into the C-Sec academy. The lighting was a dull blue, leaving the entire zone quite dark. Despite this, there was plenty of through-traffic.

"This is the main hub in or out of the Citadel." Nihlus explained when Ranma commented on the amount of people to the lack of things to see. "Everything and everyone should go though C-Sec."

"Should?" Ranma looked up at the Turian.

"Sometimes, some things slip the net so to speak."

"Or people?"

"Exactly."

The area he led Ranma into had a large waiting room. Seats lined the walls and there was an actual tree in the centre. People milled around the area. C-Sec officers moved in and out of the offices across from the waiting area. A couple of Turian guards stood by the way in and by each office, intently watching everyone that went by.

Nihlus stepped into the first office and walked over to the nearest desk. A bald on top human male sat with an arm hanging loosely over the back of his chair and looked to be watching a video on the screen instead of working.

Nihlus placed his hands behind his back and waited to be acknowledged. The C-Sec officer continued to ignore them.

"Ahem." Nihlus cleared his throat.

"Yeah, yeah. Come back in an hour." the guy waved Nihlus off.

Click.

The guy's eyes moved around as he felt the cold barrel of Nihlus's gun rest against his head.

"Hey! Easy tiger!" He spun around in his chair and raised his arms. He didn't sound too concerned. "Pulling a gun on a C-Sec detective is not smart my scaly friend."

"Nihlus Kryik. Spectre. Check if you wish." Nihlus stated staring down the barrel.

"I'll take your word for it." The detective replied and rubbed his greying and carefully groomed goatee. "What can old Harkin help you with, Spectre." He didn't sound impressed, neither did he remove his eyes from the barrel until Nihlus lifted the gun away and re-holstered it.

"I need access to Citadel Security video footage."

"Specifically?"

"The Presidium, going back at least twenty hours."

"Really?" Harkin pondered slyly. "That's a lot of footage. Looking for anything specific?"

"Nothing that you need be concerned about." Nihlus stated with finality.

"Hush hush. I get the point." Harking smirked smugly, as if he was in on a private joke. As he turned back towards his desk his eyes caught sight of Ranma. He paused and eyed her in a way that made her instantly think of Happosai. "Nice. She yours? Never knew you Turians had taste." He winked suggestively at her and Ranma suddenly felt the need to shower.

"None of your damned business. I suggest you keep your mind on your job and your eyes on the screen." Nihlus growled.

"Gotcha." Harkin stated, oozing smugness as he typed away. He turned his head back to Nihlus. "Got a particular area you're interested in?"

"Quadrant C. Sector 5."

"There. Twenty hours ago." Harkin stated. Nihlus leaned over his shoulder and took control of the station. He began fast forwarding the footage. Ranma stepped closer to the Turian and studied the screen as well. The area remained empty until suddenly there was a tent. Nihlus paused the footage and slowly backtracked until he found the frame the tent vanished.

"Hey look at that. Seems we've been hacked." Harkin stated with glee as he leaned in close and studied the screen. You could see the gears were turning in his head.

"Damn. This is worrying." Nihlus muttered.

"Is that bad?" Ranma asked.

"I'd say so." The Turian replied looking at her. "Any chance you can restore the correct footage?" he turned to Harkin.

"Not likely. I'd be interested in knowing how whoever did that, did that though."

"I'd bet." Nihlus remarked, having already pegged this human as scum.

"I'll have the boy's in Network to look into it." Harkin rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I'll forward anything on to you."

"Sure you will. Let's go Ranma." Nihlus straightened up and walked away. Ranma turned to follow and stiffened as a hand squeezed her behind.

"You've got five seconds to start running." Ranma turned and smiled sweetly at Harkin.

"Ooooh. I like aggressive ones."

"Five." Ranma stated and then her hands blurred. Harking sudden bellowed out in pain and clutched at his hand.

"Ah shit!" Harkin swore looking at his mangled hand.

"What did you do?" Nihlus had spun around when he heard the shout.

"Only dislocated every bone in his hand." Ranma stated feeling vindicated as she walked past. "He'll need a chiropractor to put that right."

'That looks exceedingly painful.' Nihlus thought, certain some of Harkin's fingers were actually twisted around and facing the wrong way.

"You're lucky. I'd have blown it off." Nihlus stated.

"Nice work." the nearest Turian officer congratulated Ranma as she passed.

x-X-x

Ranma trailed behind Nihlus, muttering darkly as they headed to the elevator that went back to the Presidium. Nihlus insisted they head back towards the human embassy. Her encounter with Harkin had left her in foul mood, not improved by Nihlus's insistence she stay with him.

"Are you certain you don't want to press charges?" the Turian asked as the lift doors closed.

"What's the point? Happens to me a lot and they never learn, no matter how hard to beat em. Anyway, I'll be outta here as soon as you let me and heading home." Ranma responded.

"About that, how do you plan on returning to Earth?"

"What do you mean?" the pigtailed martial artist looked up at the tall Turian.

"I mean, you can't just walk the distance as you planned. A flight back from here isn't cheap, even on the most basic of cargo ships." Nihlus explained.

"I've got credits."

"Not enough for a ride back home. I checked."

Ranma shrugged nonchalantly. "I'll get a job."

"Doing what? Nobody will hire someone who isn't legally registered as being here, the category which you currently fall under. The only work you'd get is not the kind I would like to see you in. It would be a…waste of talent."

"Why do you care so much about what *I* do?" Ranma asked, confused as to why someone actually wanted to know what she was going to do. In her experience, people told her what she would do.

Nihlus stepped closer to the curved glass of the elevator and looked out at the floors as they passed smoothly by, casting shadows over his features. He placed his hands behind his back before speaking.

"How old are you Ranma?"

"Sixteen." Ranma replied.

"Incredible. You've not even finished maturing yet, and you've caught my eye. That sort of talent should not be wasted. You could do so much good for the galaxy. So much good for your own species."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't suppose you know much about galactic history?"

"Don't know much about any history. I spent all my time wandering from dojo's to training grounds with my Pop's training."

"You humans were latecomers to the galactic scene. However, since joining Council Space your kind have achieved more in a few decades than most species achieve in a hundred years. Your aggressive spread into galactic affairs has brought fear and mistrust. Some claim you're receiving favours off the Council and growing resentment is abound."

"Are we?"

"No. In fact many humans believe they've been held back by the council. There are some races who even believe your kind are a blight on the galaxy. Many of my own are still sore over our first encounters with you humans."

"Why? What happened?" Ranma stepped up beside Nihlus.

"You humans call it the First Contact War. We Turians call it the Relay 314 Incident. A stupid misunderstanding that started a war. Both sides had losses and it was only with the Council stepping in it didn't escalate further. It's been close to thirty years since and the scars are only just beginning to fade."

"Oh…but we've made up right?"

"Slowly. As I said, many still distrust and dislike humans and only see your destructive nature. But some of us can see the potential you offer the galaxy as a whole."

"Like you." Ranma guessed.

"Like me." Nihlus agreed looking down at her. "Most species are content to be the best at one thing. We Turians have the best fleet and military force. The Asari the best biotics. The Salarians the quickest minds and best intelligence network. But you humans, you want to be the best at everything. You're constantly pushing your boundaries and surpassing them, and that scares a lot of us. Those that can't or won't see the good you could bring all of us as well with this constant desire to improve."

"So that's why you're pushing for me to join you?"

"You said you've trained most of your life? Why?"

"To be the best martial artist there is."

"See, there's that drive. The Spectres only accept *the* best. Joining would prove you are that, and that humanity is ready to accept the responsibility of protecting the peace of the galaxy."

"I…I'm not sure…" Ranma replied uncertainly. "I really need to fix a problem."

"There's also the bragging rights I'd get for finding and having the youngest ever Spectre under my wing." Nihlus smirked. "At the moment that belongs to the one who spotted me. Saren joined at only twenty."

"I…"

"Did I mention that in a few days I'm heading to Earth to pick up another potential? It's a free ride…" Nihlus almost sang the last word.

"You!" Ranma stared in shock for a moment before shaking her head. "Sly. Very sly." she faintly smiled.

"Interested in being assessed?"

"You'll give me time to sort my own problems out?" Ranma asked.

"Of course. Just don't wait too long, otherwise you'll miss the chance at being the youngest ever Spectre."

"Okay, fine, I'll do it."

"Excellent." Nihlus nodded. "I feel you'll be very interesting to assess."

"So, what happens next?"

"Well, I'd like to see what you can do over the next few weeks. Then you'll get some special training-"

"Training?" Ranma interrupted with wide sparkling eyes. "Why the heck didn't you say I'd get special training in the first place?" She literally vibrated with excitement as she spoke. "When do we start?"

"Wait - wha?" Nihlus was taken aback by the sudden enthusiasm. "You…you mean I didn't have to spend all that time buttering you up and could have just said 'you get special training'?" His jaw dropped open.

The rest of the journey was spent with Nihlus shaking his head in disbelief every time he looked over at the red head. Once the elevator stopped and let them out, they headed back to the embassies.

As they entered the reception area of the embassies, Ranma noticed Avina wasn't there. Instead a young human male was crouched down and working at the console the VI normally appeared behind and the embassy secretary, a blue skinned Asari, stood nearby with her arms folded.

"Well? Have you fixed it?" the secretary was saying as Nihlus and Ranma passed.

"I can't find anything wrong Ma'am." the Citadel Technician replied looking up from his analysis.

"Have you even looked? That damned thing has spent all day sighing like a lovestruck schoolgirl!"

"I've double checked it. I can't see anything wrong with the VI."

"Then triple check it!"

"Look lady, all diagnostics are coming back clean and it is answering questions with the correct answers."

"Are you calling me a liar?"

"If the shoe fits." the guy mumbled too quietly for anyone to hear.

"Wonder what that's about?" Ranma muttered with a strange feeling of guilt she couldn't figure out why she felt it. She quickly forgot about it as Nihlus led her away and up to the embassy by the normal access route, up the stairs on the right, through a door into a corridor.

"Try not to antagonise the Ambassador any more than you have to, if he's in." Nihlus stated just outside the embassy door. "He's a little high-strung."

"I figured." Ranma replied as the Spectre pressed the button to open the door. The door slid apart, granting them access and Nihlus stepped inside.

"Nihlus!" Captain Anderson greeted as he looked up from the desk he sat at. He was the only one in the room luckily. "Did you capture…" he trailed off at seeing Ranma walk in behind the Spectre.

"Yes Captain, I did, in a manner of speaking."

"Yo." Ranma raised a hand in greeting as the door slid closed behind her. Anderson got to his feet warily.

"Don't be concerned, Captain, we've cleared up our misunderstandings." Nihlus indicated Ranma. "Ranma overreacted. As did we all."

"Ah, that's…good to know." Anderson nodded. "Still, she did interrupt a classified meeting and assaulted C-Sec."

"That won't be a problem Captain." Nihlus informed him. "Ranma has impressed me and she has agreed to be involved in the project."

"…" Anderson stood and stared. "Excuse me?"

"I'm enrolling her in the project."

"I thought I heard you say that." Anderson looked stunned. He stared over at Ranma who was by then poking one of the far terminals in boredom while they were talking. "Nihlus, can I speak with you? In private."

"Sure Captain." the Spectre nodded. "Ranma, would you wait here?"

"Huh? Oh sure thing." Ranma looked back quickly. Nihlus indicated outside with his head. He and Anderson walked outside into the corridor.

"Are you insane!?" Anderson exploded once the door closed. "Udina is going to go ballistic when he finds out. No! Forget that! The entire Systems Alliance will! What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that I'm the Spectre, Captain. I can choose my own candidate at any time, if I find an individual with the desired skills."

Anderson took a deep, calming breath. "I know. I know. But this project is vital to humanity. The Alliance prepared you the dossiers of our potential candidates in good faith. The ones chosen are our best."

"That may be true, but I have not seen their skills up close, yet. Ranma's I have. I can vouch for her."

"Nihlus. I trust you." Anderson began pacing. "I had misgivings at first when I learned you were trained by Saren, but since then I've come to know you well enough that I know you don't share his speciesism. You have the galaxies best interests at heart and I know you believe in our potential, but I can already tell you how Udina and most, if not all of the top brass will react to this."

Anderson stopped pacing and faced Nihlus.

"They'll claim you're sabotaging our efforts. They'll demand another Spectre to do the assessments."

"I believe in her ability to pass." Nihlus stood proudly. "Think of it this way Captain. If she passes she'll be not only the first of the human Spectres, but the youngest of all time. Younger than Saren by four years if she does it quickly. That should be enough to silence any of your leader's opposition to this change in plans."

"That would be…incredibly poetic in a way." Anderson said slowly, finding the idea of a human taking the title of youngest ever Spectre from Saren appealing.

"I still intend to assess your best candidate as well. Shepard."

"Still…they won't be happy to have a nobody put Shepard on the back-burner while you assess this Ranma."

"I'll assess them both at the same time, that won't be a problem. The girl will be under my direct command. That way, there will be no problems with Alliance chain of command."

"That…that may work. But I'll need something more to pacify them." Anderson began warming to the idea.

"She manhandled a Krogan."

"Excuse me?" Anderson looked at Nihlus like he had grown a second head.

"She literally dropped him in one blow, threw him around and pinned him to a wall. I've never seen anything like it before."

"You're serious?" Anderson had a hard time believing what Nihlus was telling him, even after witnessing Ranma take down four C-Sec armed only with coins.

"I'm always serious." Nihlus stated.

"We'll…we'll need proof." Anderson responded after a moment to gather his thoughts.

"That will be simple. There were witnesses. We collect testimonies from those that were there. The Krogan was called Okar. There should be a human brought into medical with various broken bones called Jaret. There is a Hanar who saw it too. Add my own and the video of her taking down that C-Sec squad and I think we have enough proof to satisfy them." Nihlus paused as he remembered another incident and added. "Oh and ask a C-Sec detective called Harkin-"

"Harkin? That disgrace to humanity?"

"Ah you know him then."

"Unfortunately. He's only kept his job because Udina kept covering for him, thinking it would look bad if one of the few humans in C-Sec got fired. He's slime."

"You'll be pleased to know then, that Ranma dislocated most of his fingers after they wandered too close."

"She did, did she? I'm beginning to like this girl." Anderson smirked.

"She does have a certain rough charm." Nihlus agreed. He turned serious. "There is one thing I am worried about though."

"Go on."

"She had no idea where she was, believing she was still on Earth. I checked in with C-Sec to study the footage and find out when she arrived. The system had been hacked, and the footage removed."

"That's not a good sign." Anderson frowned. "She may be a plant."

"I thought that at first. When I first approached her she was closed up tight. She soon opened up to me after I showed her the Citadel. I feel she is being honest with us."

"Still…this could be a problem."

"I agree. I'd like to do a full background check on her unofficially before we break the news to your leaders. If anything strange pops up we'll know ahead of time."

"Then let's do that now." Anderson decided. He opened the door and they both stepped back in. They both stopped inside the doorway at seeing the sight that greeted them.

Ranma was running through a kata in the furthest area of the office near the balcony. She flowed smoothly from one form to another, around and through invisible opponents. Anderson had seen plenty of martial arts, everyone in the military knew at least one form of unarmed combat, but he had never seen someone moving so perfectly. He picked out a few forms but many he couldn't place, and Ranma didn't stay in one for more than a few seconds to fully study. It was breathtaking. Finally she wound down and turned to them.

"Hey." she rolled her right shoulder.

"What style is that?" Anderson asked walking up to her. "I recognised a little kempo, but most of it was unfamiliar."

"It's Anything goes. My family's style, it's a little of everything. Take what works and mix it all together. I'm a little stiff though. Pop's would've complained about that."

"If that's stiff, I can't wait to see it normally."

"As do I." Nihlus agreed. "Ranma, we need to do a background check on you. Do you have any objections?"

"Nah." Ranma shrugged.

"Okay." Anderson walked over to the nearest desk. He sat down in the chair and tapped the glowing interface on the desk. Nihlus walked to stand behind the Captain. Ranma joined them. "Lets get your records up for now. How old are you?"

"Sixteen." Ranma told him.

"Lets see. Ranma Saotome." Anderson typed in Ranma's name and how many years back to search. After choosing accept the screen changed. "Hmm? No results for your age. Are you sure that's correct?"

"Yeah. I know how old I am." Ranma rolled her eyes.

"I'll go back twenty years just in case." Anderson retyped the data. He got two results. "Ah better. No…wait their both males."

"That'll be right." Ranma nodded.

"What?" Anderson looked up at her.

"My Pops…wanted a son." Ranma lied. Anderson eyed Nihlus, they both knew something wasn't right.

"Something you're not telling us Ranma?" Nihlus asked.

"Nope. Why would I not be telling you something…" Ranma rubbed the back of her head and talked quickly. She finished by laughing weakly.

"You're transgendered aren't you." Anderson stated.

"Heh, heh…how?" Ranma nervously twiddled her fingers.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of." Anderson remarked seeing her discomfort.

"It's not? Don't you think I'm a freak?" Ranma blinked in surprise.

"No. The surgery is very easily done nowadays. It's nothing too unusual. Full scale genetic reconstruction though is rare, expensive and dangerous, so surgery is still the preferred method."

"Surgery? No it's a curse."

"I suppose many feel that way, Ranma. It won't have any bearing on your assessment. Both genders are well represented in the Alliance." Anderson reassured her.

"I…" Ranma shut up, deciding not to try and explain further. She doubted they would believe her.

"Let's pull up these files." Anderson selected them. Two profiles appeared. Neither looked to be Ranma, although Anderson didn't want to guess which one was true as facial reconstructive surgery was pretty damn effective. That was why most identification was through DNA scanner. When someone could wear your face, there had to be a more reliable method. "Which one is yours?"

"Neither." Ranma stated looking at the faces. "Those ain't me."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I know what my boy-form looks like." Ranma snorted. Anderson went back a screen and increased the years to twenty-five. He couldn't imagine her being any older. There were more results this time. He flicked through them. Ranma said "No." to each one.

"Does it need typing in Kanji?" Ranma asked after all profiles didn't match.

"No. The computer automatically translates it." Anderson looked at her. "Either you don't exist or you've not recognised yourself."

"Try letting the computer do a facial match." Nihlus suggested. "If that fails we'll have to go the DNA profile route."

"Right. Ranma would you look straight ahead and don't move for a moment?" Anderson quickly switched the search mode. "Good." he stated as Ranma's face appeared on the screen. He started the search. A progress bar appeared and began filling up slowly.

"How long does this take?" Ranma asked.

"Not as long as DNA matching across FTL communications." Anderson remarked. They waited as the bar filled slowly.

"Did the Asari build this too?" Ranma turned to Nihlus.

"No Ranma. It's just slow." Nihlus answered. They watched until the bar completely filled.

"There are over two thousand potential facial matches." The interface stated in a lifeless female voice.

"Narrow that down by family name Saotome." Nihlus suggested.

"Zero potential matches."

Anderson leaned back. "Looks like we'll need to do a DNA profile."

"Do I have to give a blood sample or something?" Ranma asked.

"No. A hair sample would be simplest."

"Oh." Ranma reached up and plucked a single hair from her pigtail. She handed it to Anderson. "There you go."

"This'll take a while to search through the records back on Earth from here. I suggest we find you an apartment to stay in for now." Anderson stood up and carefully held the hair as to not lose it. He looked at Nihlus.

"I'll find her a room." the Spectre nodded.

"Good. By tomorrow the results should have come back. We'll meet later tomorrow to discuss how to break this news to Udina." Anderson decided. "Oh and Ranma."

"Yeah?"

"Try not to cause any more trouble."

"Ah don't worry. How much trouble could I get into in one day?" Ranma grinned.

x-X-x

"Make yourself at home." Nihlus told Ranma with a wave to the room he had brought her to.

Ranma stepped in past the short entrance area and looked around. The room was spartan, it's walls plain and formed from a brushed metal with a bluish tinge. The room was divided into two sections. The furthest was lowered down a step and contained a single bed. There was a small cabinet next to it with a holographic clock showing Citadel standard time.

Halfway along the step down as a small divider and above that a glass screen that served as a television or extranet display. Behind that, facing towards the doorway was a small desk and a chair. The room's lighting was embedded in the ceiling and gave off a gentle blue-white glow.

Ranma wandered across the first area and paused before the walls. She curiously touched one of the panels. A gentle warmth radiated from it. As she ran her hands along the wall the warmth stayed constant, even over the joins.

"The temperature is controlled from either the night-stand or the computer on the desk." Nihlus explained. "And the lighting, etc. It's all done from the holographic interfaces. They're simple enough to use."

"I'm staying with you?" Ranma turned to look at him.

"No. These are just the rooms set aside for Spectres when we need to visit the Citadel. I've assigned this one to you." Nihlus explained. "If you need food, I'd prefer you to order it in rather than go wandering around Citadel Tower without me. Until I sort your clearance out you may get hassled by C-Sec."

"You're ordering me to stay here?" Ranma didn't sound pleased.

"Just for a while. I need to send a report in. That'll take an hour or so, then we can go and get you tidied up for the inevitable…well shit-storm when I reveal that I've picked you to your Ambassador." Nihlus chuckled.

"Tidied up?" Ranma glanced down at the state she was in. "Ah. Heh."

"There's a shower in here." Nihlus pressed a button off the side of the small entrance area and a hidden door slid open. Ranma looked inside the small bathroom. There was a shower and toilet. She found herself feeling a little sad to see no furo.

"I'll be back in a bit." the Spectre said as he left.

x-X-x

"Is this report correct?" The Turian council-member asked, his voice laced with scepticism as he looked across from the podium he stood at.

"It is, Councillor." Nihlus responded standing tall on the platform resting over the high pit that separated the speaker from the Citadel Council. He absently wondered if they had a hidden switch installed that would retract the platform on those they disliked and drop them into the pit below.

"You will forgive our scepticism, Spectre." The Salarian Councillor stated in the quick, clipped tone they spoke with. "But this is a most strange report."

"A human overpowering a Krogan? Destroying four C-Sec officer's weapons with only coins? Skilled enough at only sixteen years of age to know you were following her? These claims are…outlandish." The Turian Councillor remarked.

"And yet, Nihlus has proven himself one of our best many times over." The Asari Councillor stated. "He is not one to make such remarkable claims unless he has proof. You do have proof Spectre?"

"Yes Councillors. The proof is being collected at this moment and I shall present it, and the girl to yourselves shortly." Nihlus informed them.

"We look forward to seeing your proof."

"As do I." A strong and familiar voice stated from behind Nihlus. The Spectre turned to look in surprise.

"Saren." Nihlus greeted at seeing the Spectre who had recognised his own talent.

Saren cut an intimidating figure, a fraction taller than Nihlus, and heavier built, especially for a Turian as most were slender, built more for speed than strength. His armour a dull silver and showing dents and scratches from use. Unlike Nihlus, whose crests swept back over the top of his head, Saren had three thinner ones. One over the top of his own head, and one coming back off of his face by the side of his eyes. He radiated power and confidence as he approached.

"Nihlus." Saren returned the greeting with a friendly squeeze to Nihlus's shoulder as he drew up to him. Nihlus found himself trying not to stare as he realised the rumours he had heard of Saren being injured recently seemed to be true. Saren's cybernetic eyes glowed an electric blue, and his mandibles were scared and patched with metal sections.

"It's been a while."

"Yes, it has." Nihlus agreed.

"Saren Arterius. The Council welcomes one of it's most respected Spectres back to the Citadel." The Turian council-member greeted.

"It is a pleasure to be back, Councillors." Saren responded smoothly, giving a respectful nod to the three in turn. "I heard you give your report and I find it hard to believe." Saren turned back to Nihlus. "The differences in our beliefs are well known, but I will admit you don't make claims unless you have proof."

"The girl is talented. Unbelievingly so for one her age. If I hadn't witnessed it first-hand I would be sceptical as well." Nihlus replied with a nod. "I take no offence at being questioned over her skill."

"I see. The humans sent a competent one this time did they."

"Actually, I found her myself." Nihlus corrected. "In Captain Anderson's own words, their Top Brass will go ballistic over my choice."

"Captain Anderson?" Saren tried to sound surprised and failed. He had obviously known Anderson was involved. "So the humans promote their failures. Why am I not surprised." He turned to address the Council. "I would suggest the Council test Nihlus's claims of the human's skill, before agreeing to allow her candidacy."

"Dully noted Saren." The Salarian council-member stated.

"If I could be so bold, I offer my services in testing the human."

Nihlus turned towards Saren with a frown. "That, won't be necessary."

"An excellent suggestion Saren." The Turian council-member agreed.

"Yes. A second opinion is always a good idea." The Salarian nodded his agreement.

"Your history with the human's previous attempts may bring doubt into the fairness of your grading." The Asari Council Member countered.

"Saren is a professional. He won't let his personal feelings get in the way." The Turian council-member argued.

"No." Saren stated. "She is right. I offer only to arrange the testing."

The Council Members all exchanged glances at each other as they came to a decision. They shared a nod.

"Very well. The Council agrees to let Saren Arterius manage the testing of the human. Nihlus Kryik, you have one day to prepare the girl for whatever test Saren chooses." The Asari council-member said. "This meeting, is adjourned."

Nihlus watched the Citadel Council leave with apprehension. He rounded on Saren. "What game are you playing Saren?"

"Nihlus. I'm just making certain you aren't making a mistake." Saren indicated for Nihlus to walk with him. "We have our differences, but that's only opinions. I still care about the one I trained myself and consider you a close friend. Wouldn't you stop me from making a mistake if you had the chance?"

"Yeah." Nihlus agreed as they walked down the steps from the Council chamber. "I would. But this is no mistake Saren. This girl, she's different."

"That…I would like to judge for myself."

"I'll take you to meet her."

"Humans are all the same. Violent and greedy creatures, but...I do find myself curious about this one that you are so certain of."

"This way." Nihlus said as he headed off towards the apartment where he had left Ranma. It didn't take long until they stood outside the door. Nihlus pressed the button and opened the door.

"Hey Nihlus." Ranma's voice called out even before the door fully opened. "Who's your friend?"

Nihlus blinked in surprise at her knowing he had brought someone with him as he doubted she could she past him clearly.

"Ranma, how did you-" Nihlus started to speak but trailed off as he saw her. Ranma was balancing on the thin metal bottom edge of the bed, held up by a single finger. Her other arm was held folded in the small of her back and her legs straight up, toes pointing towards the ceiling. The back of her head was facing towards them, her pigtail hanging towards the floor. It was an act of serious balance and strength.

Nihlus remained silent as he walked further into the room. He noted Ranma had removed the bandages and her shirt, leaving her wearing only a loose fitting white vest and her silk pants. He studied her form for a moment, seeing the tight muscles vibrating minutely under her skin as they held her still. As Turian skin was thicker than humans and covered in metallic plates their own muscles were hard to see working. He found the sight of Ranma's interesting.

Saren approached and stepped around Nihlus to get a better view. After a moment he spoke. "This is it? Interesting."

Ranma leaned her head back so she could look at the other Turian that had returned with Nihlus. "It?" she questioned and decided she didn't like this guy instantly. "Who the heck are you?"

"An old friend of Nihlus's." Saren stated. He crouched down so he was eye-level with Ranma and stared at her with his unblinking cybernetic eyes. She returned the stare unflinchingly. "Nihlus thinks you're something special. From what I see…I doubt it."

"Really?" Ranma drawled as her opinion of this Turian dropped further. She very slowly did a single push-up on one finger before quickly switching her hands out so she was suddenly using the other one. She did this so fast that she had seemed to remain in the same position as she swapped to the other hand. All the time she kept her eyes locked with Saren's.

"Is that suppose to impress me human?" Saren said as he stood back up.

Ranma dropped down and then pushed off the bed into the air. She flipped around and landed right before Saren. The Spectre didn't budge and folded his arms as she turned to stare challengingly up at the taller Turian.

"Hmph." Saren slowly turned away. Then he moved, drawing his gun faster than Nihlus could react and placed the end of the barrel against Ranma's forehead without looking at her.

"What the hell are you doing Saren!?" Nihlus whipped his rifle out as fast as he could and aimed it at Saren's face.

"Nihlus. I'm disappointed in you. You should have realised the safety is on." Saren remarked unconcerned as he still faced the other Turian.

"And you should have realised you couldn't have fired it anyway." Ranma stated smugly. Saren turned his head to regard her and suddenly realised he had nothing in his hand. His face didn't betray his surprise as Ranma casually twirled his weapon around her finger. They locked eyes once more.

Saren suddenly laughed a dark, humourless laugh. "Interesting Nihlus. Very interesting. I could find a use for this one." His tone was light, but something in his words gave Ranma a chill. There was just something wrong with him, her instincts were screaming. He was bad news, she just knew it.

Nihlus relaxed as Saren laughed. "Next time give me a warning you're going to pull something like that. I almost shot you." His rifle folded in on itself as he reattached it to his armour.

"And miss the look on your face?" Saren joked facing Nihlus once more.

"That's it! Your aura. It's wrong!" Ranma suddenly stated as if she had figured out a puzzle that had been bothering her for some time.

"What?" Saren rounded on the girl, who had stepped up close to him and eyed the Turian. She appeared to be looking right through him, as if studying something only she could see.

"Your ki, it's twisted. Damaged. Flowing in the wrong way." Ranma put her finger on his chest and ran it downwards, tracing one of his flows. "Almost like…something…a hand has reached into you and grabbed your flows and pulled them the wrong way. Leaving something behind…" Ranma turned her eyes back up to meet Saren's. "…something ancient. Something wrong. What did this to you?"

Saren felt a jolt of fear shoot down his spine. 'She knows!' he thought in shock stepping back. Ranma's eyes narrowed. She had never felt anything so alien as she felt in Saren's ki. Even all the actual alien's ki wasn't as strange as this Saren's.

"What are you talking about Ranma? You've mentioned that word before." Nihlus asked. "What is it?"

"I should go." Saren interrupted as he regained his composure. "Nihlus. I'll see you soon." he promised as he moved around the younger Spectre.

"Saren! Wait!" Nihlus spun after the other Turian. "You've left your gun."

"Let her keep it." Saren kept moving as he called back, not looking back. Not wanting to see the girl's knowing eyes.

Nihlus's mandibles vibrated in confusion and worry as he watched Saren vanish into the throng of passing strangers outside on the street. The door suddenly slid shut with a click that sounded far louder than it should have, as if it were an omen.

x-X-x

Saren stumbled into the apartment he was using while on the Citadel. The door had barely closed behind him when he flew in a wild rage. He grabbed the nearby chair and threw it across the room, leaving a large dent in the far wall and smashing it in two. His fist crashed through the thick glass of the screen that split the room in two, shattering it. He raged, hissed and growled like a wild animal, feeling helpless. Unable to see a way out of his situation and raging at it the only way he could. He tore the sheets off the bed, sinking his claws deep into the mattress.

Her knowing eyes continued to stare through him.

He flung himself at the wall, pounding his fists against the unfeeling metal, leaving more dents. Finally his anger was spent and he sank to his knees and held a hand to his forehead in regret.

"Too late. Too late. They can't be stopped." Saren mumbled. "Can only survive…have to be useful to them. To them."

Her eyes continued to haunt him.

She knew.

"Eliminate her." Saren didn't hear the voice. He felt it. Like a jolt of dark electricity through every cell in his body. Every fibre of his being resonated with that dark, ancient voice that demanded obedience. "Our coming must not be foretold. Your will is ours. Eliminate her. Sovereign, demands it."

"Yes." Saren spoke as he climbed back to his feet, his will restored. "I understand." he turned towards the door. "And I know exactly how to do it."

End Chapter 2

Notes :-

Wow, where to begin…first, I'm completely blown away by the amount of positive reviews. I mean completely. I expected maybe a couple or being slated for even considering such an unworkable idea. I started out without any real expectation or hope of it working, but it seems to have. In fact, I didn't have much idea apart from lets see if I can get away with dumping Ranma into Mass Effect. Let him/her learn to control Mass Effects and then get back and beat Herb easily :P

But as I wrote the first chapter, I kept going back and revising as things occurred to me, until it actually became something totally different.

A few reviewers have commented on Ranma overpowering everything, so let me say I hope to avoid most of that as I believe a lot of the tech in Mass Effect can counter most of Ranma's physical abilities. Beside, hands up if anyone actually believes Ranma can punch the real villains hiding in dark space to death? No, put your hand down you crazy person at the back.

As was pointed out, I messed up the way the guns worked. Whoops, they fire a very dense grain of metal at supersonic speeds. I'll correct that soon. So Ranma isn't fast enough to dodge the guns, but they are still limited by how fast one can aim and pull the trigger which Ranma can use to avoid them before they're fired. Geth will be a problem for that as they wont give off the signals that person does when aiming.

As to the Ranma-chan angle, I think a lot of people have figured out what's really going there.

If anyone can confirm Ranma's birth date let me know with a link to source, otherwise as I found nothing, I'm going with 1980. Which would mean he is 203 by the time this takes place. Note, the average lifespan of humans in Mass Effect is 150 due to medical advances.

Ranma takes the space station in stride because she still doesn't know what the year is and is just accepting things as she never really learned much history travelling around with Genma aside from martial arts.

Yes, Ranma isn't replacing Shepard. I can't see Ranma being able to hold a team together and lead them successfully against what they're up against. She may make things easier or harder. No, she's not available to Shepard as a love interest.

I've set things roughly just over a month before Eden Prime. i.e. Harkin hadn't been suspended for a month yet.


	3. Chapter 3

Wild Effect

The taxi left the standard lane and changed course, going from flying forward to moving vertically with ease, thanks to its mass effect drive. It floated up past the small raised sections of the walkways that prevented people from falling over the edge and rotated around until facing into towards the landing zone. Then the taxi drifted over the landing zone and set itself down lightly.

Saren pushed the door up and climbed out. He stood for a moment, force of habit making him analyse the area for threats, then he turned and closed the door. The taxi's drive core hummed louder as it lifted away smoothly and retraced the path into the area. Then it shot off, rejoining the traffic below.

He turned and set off, walking out of the landing zone and onto the walkways above the traffic. Even before rounding the corner, he could hear the throbbing of deep bass in the distance. Chora's Den, that was his destination. One of the seedier nightclubs on the Citadel, owned by the man he needed to see. The distinctive logo, a silhouette of an Asari sat with her legs to the side and holding a hand over her knees, much like the logo's found on the mud-flaps of trucks, covered the wall outside.

As Saren walked up to the door it slid open automatically, granting the Spectre access and the volume of the music increased as it spilled out onto the walkway. He stepped in and slowly looked around.

The smell of alcohol, stale smoke and the always strange combination of various species body odours all blended together, assaulted his nose. He resisted the urge to grimace at the amount of humans he spotted inside, in his experience they flocked to places such as these. Disgusting creatures.

The club always seemed busy, open constantly to the public with the Wards having no day / night cycle and always dingily lit, unlike the Presidium.

The main area of Chora's Den was a large round room with a circular bar as the centre attraction, staffed by four or more at busy times bar-keepers. Neon lights glowed behind the bar and on the walls. Above the bar was a large platform where Asari dancers in skin-tight, shiny costumes, danced provocatively.

Around the outside walls was divided into booths, some with a table and stools, others with loungers. To one side their was a way to the back-rooms, guarded by a large Krogan bouncer. He watched the club and tried to look intimidating, not that Krogan's had much trouble with that. The area near him was divided in two and had an Asari on each table giving a semi-private performance to the patrons sat near them.

Harkin leaned against the bar, resting his right hand and bandaged fingers on its top. All in all, he thought to himself, he'd had a bad day. His swollen fingers still ached, even with the painkillers the doctor had given him after resetting them while he claimed he hadn't seen so many dislocations in one place before. That red head had been crazily quick. Bitch.

Then Executor Pallin, that prissy Turian that was his boss had the nerve to suspend him over the incident. Not that Harkin was bothered by that. In a few days Udina up in the embassy would step in and things would go right back to normal. Heh, dumbasses.

So he found himself with time to kill and decided to spend it getting drunk and watching the Asari shake their asses on stage.

"Hey, how'd you like to help give me a hand with things?" he asked suggestively displaying his bandaged fingers and grinned lecherously at the female barkeeper. She could only have just been old enough to serve alcohol.

"Take a hike creep!"

"Hey, hey. That's no way to talk to a paying customer." Harkin continued to eye her up.

"You're disgusting!" she wandered off.

"You're not that special either." he sneered after her and picking up his drink in his left hand. He turned to leave and was bumped into, making him spill his drink over the bar. "Sonovabitch!" Harkin grumbled. He shouted at the Turian passing. "Hey! Jackass!"

Saren came to a standstill at the shout.

"Yeah you Turian. You spilled my drink."

The large Turian Spectre slowly turned his head around to regard the one who had shouted out at him in annoyance, over his shoulder. He smoothly rounded on the human whose face has suddenly gone pale as he recognised the Spectre.

"Oh shit..." Harking mumbled to himself. He knew of Saren, knew of his anti-human politics and the reputation of his brutal efficiency in getting jobs done.

"Oh." Saren growled. "I'm very sorry." he approached and towered over Harkin as his eyes never moved from Harkin's own. "Let me make that up to you." Saren spoke, his words themselves weren't threatening, but his tone carried disdain and hatred.

"Ah...that's okay..." Harkin tried to back away, but Saren reached out and took hold of his shoulder. Tightly. Harkin suppressed a wince as the Turian turned him back to the bar.

"I insist." Saren rumbled politely. "Barkeeper. Replace this man's drink."

The barkeeper did so and Saren paid for it, took the glass and placed it in Harkin's right hand. Saren closed Harkin's bruised fingers around it and squeezed tightly with his own.

"Enjoy." Saren stated as he leaned in closer, getting threateningly close into Harkin's face. "It may be your last." All the while he ground the swollen fingers of the suspended C-Sec detective into the hardened glass, gaining a wince of pain from the human. He gave Harkin one final glare before he let go, turned and headed off.

Harkin grimaced for a moment before he downed the drink in one. Then he made a sharp exit, not wanting to stick around. Saren's reputation for violence was well known, and as the Spectre was moving towards the back of the club, where the Krogan guarded, Harkin knew it was time to leave. He wasn't stupid enough to hang around a known criminal's club when a Spectre known for his brutality arrived.

Saren strode purposely up to the Krogan guard, who did his job by blocking the Spectre. Saren was taller, but the Krogan was a lot heavier.

"Help ya?" the Krogan rumbled unhelpfully.

"I'm here to see your boss. He goes by the handle of Fist."

"He expecting ya?"

"No. But he'll want to hear what I've got to say." Saren stated.

"Right. Like I don't hear that at least ten times a day." The Krogan snorted. "Not expected. Not getting in."

"I'm impressed. A Krogan that can count past six." Saren taunted dryly.

"You've got some quads, Turian." The Krogan stepped closer and poked the Spectre in the chest. "Get lost before I throw ya out."

"Move or I go through you." Saren threatened.

"Your funeral." The bouncer growled making to move. Saren was quicker. He had his gun drawn and aimed at the Krogan's knee before he had even realised Saren had moved. He fired three times to be sure that if the Krogan's armour had kinetic shields, at least one shot would get through. He didn't.

The Krogan bouncer bellowed in surprise and pain as he one knee exploded and collapsed under his impressive weight. The club went into panic at the sound of gunfire. People ran for the doors while others went for their own guns.

The barrel of Saren's pistol tapped against the Krogan's hardened head plates. He looked up in resignation as the Spectre fired another two shots at point blank range, killing him instantly. Before the body had even hit the floor, Saren was stepping over it. Behind him, more of Fist's men were moving towards him. He almost casually reached to his side, unclipped a grenade and tossed it back into the club.

The grenade went off the moment it hit the floor. By then Saren was already around the corner. The explosion caught anyone who was rushing at the Spectre, throwing them away and maiming any too close to the blast.

Two startled human guards saw the Spectre walking straight at them. One had almost reached for his gun when two perfectly aimed shots hit him right in the forehead. He dropped. The second turned in surprise at the sight of his ally drop dead. A mistake Saren capitalised on. He strode quickly up to the human and whipped his pistol across his jaw. The guard stumbled to the side as his jaw shattered and sprayed blood and spittle across the wall.

The guard recovered his footing only to find the barrel slammed under his chin and a single shot went off. He knew no more.

Saren calmly checked the heat status bar on the side of his pistol as he turned to the door. The bar was only a third of the way full, leaving him plenty of shots left. He thumped the button and the door slid open allowing him into the back room.

"Die you fucker!"

Saren ignored the words only paying attention to the room. It was a large room with two semicircular recliners facing each other in the centre of it. The human wearing red armour with an extreme buzz-cut hit a button and two auto-turrets came to life behind him.

Saren reacted with skill born from experience. He threw another grenade over the desk that landed between the two turrets.

"Oh shit!" Fist exclaimed diving right over the recliners to escape the blast. The explosion rocked the room and destroyed the turrets. Fist was thrown out of the air by the shock-wave and crashed into the floor face first. He groaned for a moment until a Turian hand gripped the front of his armour.

Fist found the world became a blur as he was dragged up off the floor and then slammed back against the wall, knocking the breath out of him. Saren held him off the ground single-handedly and leaned in close, placing the barrel of his pistol against Fist's head.

"You're a hard man to arrange a talk with. Fist." Saren growled.

"What the shit! Who the hell are you?" Fist asked loudly, trying to put a brave face on.

"Saren Arterius. Council Spectre."

"What? Shit! You can't arrest me! You ain't got nothing on me!" Fist stated.

"I'm not here to arrest you." Saren said, which Fist took to mean the Citadel Council had sent a Spectre to eliminate him. "I have a job offer for you."

"You can't just ki - what?" Fist's face was a picture of shock as he realised what Saren has said.

"I have a job offer for you." Saren repeated slowly to make sure the human understood.

"You...you kill my guards, break in here and blow up my office just to give me a job offer?" Fist exclaimed incredulously.

"That could have been avoided if you had hired guards with half a brain to ask who I was." Saren retorted. They stared at each other for a moment.

"I'm listening." Fist said.

"I hear you're the person to speak to if you want certain things done on the Citadel." Saren removed his pistol from Fist's head and let him drop to his feet. He continued to speak as he re-holstered his pistol. "I need you to make someone disappear."

"Why does a Spectre need me to get rid of somebody?" Fist asked rolling his head and adjusting his armour. "You're above the law." He stared impassively at the Spectre but the scar on his lip left him looking like he had a permanent sneer.

"I can't be seen to be involved with her disappearance. It would call me into question." Saren explained. "And I cannot afford to be delayed by an internal investigation into my actions."

"You better be paying well after all this." Fist sneered. "Destruction of property by Spectres is placed in the same category as an act of God by insurance companies."

"You'll be well imbursed for your trouble. My funds are very deep." Saren stated. "Depending on how well you get the job done, there may be further offers coming your way at a later date."

"I'm listening."

"Good." Saren began typing on his portable computer interface around his arm. "This is the target. I'll transfer the details to your computer." A holographic image of Ranma appeared and slowly rotated. "Her name is Ranma Saotome. I want her taken care of."

"How? Made to look like an accident? Murdered? What?"

"I don't care how you do it so long as she'll never be found again." Saren growled.

"Anything I need be aware of?" Fist asked. He didn't get where he was by not asking for the relevant details and preparing for them.

"She's being considered for a potential Spectre."

"What?" Fist looked surprised. "A human? Wow. If she's even being considered she has to be good. That'll cost you. Taking out even a potential Spectre will be hard."

"Name your price."

"Two and a half million credits."

"Done." Saren nodded. "I'll transfer half now. You'll get the rest once she's taken care of."

"Shit, just like that. Should have held out for more." Fist muttered.

"It needs to be done soon." Saren stated as he stood over Fist. "Don't disappoint me." With that said, Saren turned and walked away. Fist watched the Spectre with a feeling of disquiet in his gut. Saren paused at the door. He looked back. "By the way, if you're going to use turrets, get shielded ones next time. They might have actually slowed me down."

x-X-x

Nihlus sat on the chair in Ranma's temporary room and slowly tapped a clawed finger against the desk. Beside his other hand lay Saren's pistol, the one he let Ranma keep. The Turian was deep in thought. He was troubled. Troubled by Ranma. Troubled by Saren. Mostly Saren. He hadn't been acting like himself, more so with the way he seemed to almost flee from Ranma once she began talking about ki and strange flows, whatever the heck she meant by that. He resolved to ask her though.

The door to the shower slid open smoothly, disrupting his thoughts as Ranma walked out towelling her long hair, currently out of the pigtail. The nude girl walked right past Nihlus without a concern in the world. Ranma finished using the towel and then left it hanging around her neck and covering her breasts as she stepped down into the bedroom section.

Nihlus studied her form for a moment, having never witnessed such a sight. He commented on it. "Ranma, aren't you even a little concerned with me being here? Most humans I've met keep themselves covered at all times."

"Why?" Ranma responded picking up her boxer-shorts and giving them a flap. "We're both guys." she stated as she stepped into them and pulled the underwear up.

"I feel a lot of humans would disagree with you on that." Nihlus responded.

Ranma looked over curiously. "Hey, no matter what I look like I'm a guy up here." she tapped her head.

"About that..." Nihlus's voice was curious. "Not that it bothers me or anything, but why if you had your gender changed do you still consider yourself a...guy?"

"Wasn't my choice." Ranma muttered darkly as she held the cord to hold her hair in its pigtail between her lips. Her hands moved quickly and swiftly as she placed her hair back into a pigtail and tied it off.

"What?"

"I didn't ask for this body you know." Ranma waved down at herself. Nihlus was stunned. For a moment he could only stare. Ranma picked up her scuffed pants and pulled them on.

"You mean...you mean someone *did* that to you?!" Nihlus continued to stare and could only imagine the horror he would have felt if something like that had been done to him without his consent.

"Yeah. I didn't ask to be locked like this." Ranma snorted as she tossed the towel onto the bed and picked up her white vest.

"How long have you been like that?"

"Eh? Oh, a few weeks. Been chasing that jerk ever since. That's who I was fighting before waking up here actually." Ranma explained not catching Nihlus's true meaning as she pulled the vest over her head and adjusting it as best she could to keep herself from popping out.

"What?!" Nihlus exclaimed almost jumping to his feet in shock. Various feelings rushed through his head, but he decided to settle upon anger. "That...that's appalling! What's been done to you! How do you manage to not go insane from it all?"

"You have to adapt. Don't have to like it though." Ranma stated picking up her shirt and holding it up to the lights. The holes showed up, the damage it had received put it at the end of its useful life. "If nothing else, it sometimes has it uses." she remarked thinking on how easy it usually was to scam extra helpings of food at times.

"Ranma." Nihlus walked over and placed a hand gently on her bare shoulder. She glanced up at the Turian, surprised at how warm his hand was, expecting it to be cool like a lizard was. "I swear to help you in anyway I can to capture the one who did this to you and bring him to justice."

"Thanks man. But I can handle him myself. I've got plenty of ideas for new techniques to try out." She grinned up at the Spectre.

"You're certain?"

"Yeah. It'll be a cinch next time we meet." Ranma threw her shirt over her shoulders as Nihlus removed his hand. "So, what's next them?"

"Well, things didn't go quite as I expected with the Citadel Council." Nihlus began while Ranma buttoned up her shirt. "They wish to see your skills before allowing candidacy."

"Oh. Cool. So I have to fight someone?" Ranma grinned at the thought of showing off.

"I have no idea. Saren is arranging the test." Nihlus frowned.

"He is?" Ranma glanced at the door in thought. She still couldn't identify what the alien feeling from Saren's ki had been. What she did know was he had an unusually large reserves compared to the other aliens, far stronger than Nihlus's own. "His ki was definitely messed up."

"I've been meaning to ask you about that. What do you mean by ki?"

"You don't know?" Ranma turned back to the Spectre. Nihlus shock his head in answer. "Oh, well basically it's the flow of the energy in your body, if you can control it, you can use it to achieve different abilities. There's more to it than just that, but that's the basic definition."

"Hmm, sounds like you're talking about biotics." Nihlus stated.

"No, I'm pretty sure I mean ki." Ranma looked on curiously.

"I mean it sounds like biotics is what you're talking about." Nihlus explained. "You don't understand do you?" he asked seeing Ranma's blank expression.

"Never heard the word before."

"Well, a biotic is an individual who through exposure to element zero, or eezo, in the womb, that survives, and then goes onto develop eezo modules in their nervous system. Through the use of bio-amp implants they are able to manipulate those modules in their nervous system to produce mass effects." Nihlus paused a moment. Ranma was listening intently so he continued. "They can use this to produce different abilities, such as being able to lift objects without touching them, throw people off their feet, create shields around themselves and others, and much more."

"Sounds like they're cheating." Ranma stated with a frown.

"Cheating?" Nihlus looked surprised.

"Yeah cheating. So you get these implants and you just can start throwing around people?" Ranma didn't seem impressed.

"Not at all. Those people exposed to eezo have to train hard to use their abilities, and there is an incredibly high mortality rate to cancers in many. Plenty go on to not even develop any abilities at all."

"Oh, so they still have to work for it." Ranma nodded.

"They have to work damned hard."

"Cool. Maybe I can learn some techniques off them." Ranma rubbed her chin thoughtfully. Her eyes sparkled at the thought of new techniques, especially lifting things and making shields. Knocking people over from a distance was easy anyway.

"Unless you're biotic yourself, you won't be able to." Nihlus stated. "Besides I'm pretty sure you would know if you where biotic. Your Alliance makes sure biotics are found and trained."

"Drat." Ranma sighed.

"So how was Saren's ki damaged?" Nihlus prompted.

"Don't know whether damaged is the right word really. Maybe wrong or alien." Ranma looked thoughtful and confused. "Whatever it was he's got a lot but it's weird, almost like it wasn't actually his or something else was supplying it. Never felt anything like it."

"Well he is a Turian like me. To you we are aliens as you are to us."

"No, that's not it. Your ki is different, but still feels like ki. Saren's just didn't, like it was ki but wasn't. I don't know how to explain it aside from it definitely felt old and wrong."

"Well I don't know what you were feeling." Nihlus thought about Ranma's words. He felt something was going on with his former mentor, but had no idea as to what it was yet. The only thing he had to go on were his feelings and Ranma's words. Maybe if he learned more about ki it might make more sense. "So Ranma, what can you do with this ki, aside from sense it?"

"Well, it can be used to boost your abilities beyond normal constraints."

"So that's why you're so strong and fast?" Nihlus finally understood why if not how Ranma was able to match a Krogan in strength. She nodded in reply. "If I have ki can I learn these abilities?"

"Pretty sure you could." Ranma looked thoughtful. "I mean all living things do. Yours is a little different to mine but you have enough to begin attempting it. Most fit people do, and like a muscle, the more it's used the stronger it gets. I've seen some pretty powerful individuals."

"How long would that take?"

"Oh...only around ten years or so." Ranma remarked casually.

"Ten years?" Nihlus exclaimed. "But that means..."

"Yeah, Pop's had me begin training to use my ki since I was around five or so. I've only really just advanced beyond boosting my physical abilities." Ranma explained.

"So, no chance of a quicker way?"

"Maybe, but I don't know any of the more dangerous ways to learn it quickly. My Pop's did try one or two short-cuts. They didn't work too good." Ranma shuddered at the memories. "Don't worry. I'm sure you could get the basics down in a few years and begin to sense ki."

"Well as much as I'd like to learn how to toss Krogan's around, I don't think I'll have the time to devote to it with my Spectre duties." Nihlus sighed. "Could you show me something that can be used to prove this ki is real? Your strength could be explained away in a few ways, least of all cybernetics."

"So you want to see something impressive?" Ranma grinned, eager to show off. "I know just the trick."

She took a deep breath and focused, drawing her internal energies to where she wanted them. As she did so a faint glow became visible around her form, like a fine mist or steam rolling off her. Nihlus immediately recognised the effect as being almost identical to that of a biotic using their power.

'She is a biotic after all.' the Spectre assumed but remained quiet and let her do what she was going to.

Ranma brought her hands together, holding them before her chest and apart as if she were holding a ball. Then to Nihlus's surprise a glowing sphere of blue energy formed in between her hands and rapidly grew until it was almost touching her skin. Ranma then grinned as she took one hand away and held the ball of swirling blue energy out towards him.

"Is that a controlled singularity?" Nihlus asked leaning closer to examine the energy.

"Dunno what that is but I made this one up. Couldn't pull off the original so I came up with this version. I call it the _Moko Tabisha_." Ranma smiled cockily and let most of the power bleed off. "Here, catch." she casually flicked it toward Nihlus who brought up his arms in surprise. The small ball of energy impacted on his armour with enough speed to set off its kinetic barrier. The ball flattened and the power of impact was distributed over the shield, causing an almost electrical light show in the surrounding area.

Nihlus quickly checked the readout on his arm. The small display showed his shield recharging from a two percent lost of power.

"Well? What do you think?" Ranma asked with a smirk.

"I think...this ki is the same as biotics actually." Nihlus admitted. His face went into a frown. "But that can't be right. You're too young for the Alliance to have missed you."

"Well my Pop's did drag me all over the place while growing up. We never settled in one area for long." Ranma shrugged.

"Hmm, maybe. Didn't you tell me you've been training to use those abilities for ten years?"

"Yeah."

"That would mean you had an L2 implant surgically implanted at the age of five!" Nihlus exclaimed in horror.

"A what?"

"The implant that allows you to do that technique."

"I don't think so." Ranma frowned. "I ain't got no implant. I'd think I'd know if I did."

"Let me check. They're inserted at the base of your skull." Nihlus stepped over to Ranma. "Turn around for a moment."

Ranma shrugged and did as asked. Nihlus felt around the base of her skull, seeking the implant port he was certain he would find. His frown slowly grew deeper as he was unable to find what he was looking for. Finally he gave up.

"Find it?" Ranma turned back to the Turian.

"No." Nihlus replied still frowning. "I think it's time we got to the bottom of this." He turned and walked back to the table. Quickly he dialled in Anderson's contact details and waited for the Captain to respond.

"Anderson here. Who's calling?" his voice came over the speaker.

"Captain, it's Nihlus."

"Nihlus? What's wrong? You sound worried."

"Captain. I think we need to give Ranma a full physical." Nihlus said.

"Why? What's wrong with her?" Anderson's reply was strained.

"Not necessarily wrong Captain. But she is showing biotic ability without any sign of a bio-amp. At least as far as I can tell."

The connection went silent for a few seconds. "Are you...certain?"

"Yes. And more concerning Captain, she says she's been training these skills for ten years."

"Ten...ten years...that means..." the Captain trailed off as the implications hits him. "Nihlus get her down to the med clinic in the upper wards as soon as you can. I'll meet you there. Anderson out."

"What's up?" Ranma frowned at the agitated Turian.

"We need to get you checked out. If you've got an L2 amp somewhere you could be in danger of medical complications." Nihlus stated. "Come on."

x-X-x

"Look I'm telling you I ain't got no amp thing. It's all training." Ranma grumbled as the med clinic door opened and she trundled in after Nihlus.

"I'd like to believe you, but even Asari whose raw biotic ability is higher than other species, can barely do more than lift marbles without the use of an amp to synchronise all the eezo modules in their nervous system." Nihlus replied.

"Hmph! I've trained damned hard to do what I do. Don't need no amp." Ranma snapped, showing her annoyance with Nihlus.

"Nihlus. Ranma." Anderson greeted them as he approached along with another woman. She wore the white uniform of a medical officer, with is red and black patterns. She had a kind face, grey eyes and red hair swept almost over one eye. "This is Dr. Chloe Michel. She'll do the examination for us." he indicated her.

"Pleased to meet you." Dr. Michel greeted.

Ranma folded her arms and looked away. The other three in the clinic noticed Ranma's uncooperative body language.

"Is...something wrong?" Anderson turned to Nihlus with a questioning look.

"I think Ranma feels insulted that we believe her to be using a bio-amp." The Spectre explained.

"It isn't something to be upset over Ranma." Anderson turned back to her. "All biotics use them." Ranma remained facing away, but her eyes turned back to him.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I *know* I ain't got one." the pigtailed girl stated.

"Yes, well. That is what this examine will prove. One way or the other."

"Ranma, show the Captain and Dr. Michel what you showed me before." Nihlus said.

"Fine." Ranma turned back to the Turian. Without warning she quickly, but smoothly pushed her hand out towards him and a baseball sized ball of energy shot out and impacted against his shields. Like last time it spread out over the barrier, but this time Nihlus had to stumble back a few steps in surprise from the force of the impact. The blow had been a lot more powerful than the previous one, and a lot quicker. He regained his footing.

"Happy?" Ranma asked still sounding somewhat annoyed. She raised her hand and held up a much larger ball of swirling energy above her head, ready to throw it. "Or do you need another demonstration?"

Nihlus's eyes widened at the size of the energy ball she held at the ready. "Ah...that's not necessary." The Spectre stated as he wondered about how much damage she could cause with that size of attack.

"I've never seen someone generate such a technique." Anderson stepped close to Ranma and examined the sphere she held. His face was bathed in the blue glow.

"I can make it bigger if you want." Ranma smirked allowing the energy ball to swell.

"Please don't. I'd rather not explain why the med clinic blew up thank you very much." Anderson raised his palms pacifyingly. Ranma's smirk stayed on her face as she let the energy disperse harmlessly. The Captain turned to the doctor. "If you're ready doctor."

"Certainly." she gave a faint nod to the Captain. "If you would follow me Ranma."

Dr. Michel walked over to the nearest examination bed and patted it. "If you'd lie on here."

Ranma hopped up onto the bed and laid back. The doctor set up the scanner that was just above the bed. Ranma flinched in surprise at the bright light and the high pitched whine as the scanner slowly began moving a gird pattern down her body.

"Just relax, it can't hurt you." Dr. Michel reassured as the scanner continued on. Once it reached the end of the bed, it rapidly returned back to the starting position. The lights went out. "There you go. You can get down if you want now."

"That's it?" Ranma blinked in surprise and sat up.

"Yes. That's all...hmm? That can't be right." the doctor frowned at the readouts.

"What can't be right doctor?" Anderson stepped up behind her.

"She right. She doesn't have any bio-amp," Dr. Michel turned to look at the Captain in surprise.

"Told ya!" Ranma grinned from where she sat on the bed.

"Are you certain?" Anderson asked.

"Yes, these scanners aren't the most modern but they were top of the range when installed. If she had an implant of any sort it would show up." Dr. Michel replied. "There's also less than one percent element zero within her body, well within the normal range of exposure levels from being around mass effect generators. No indication of any eezo modules attached to her nervous system either. She can't be a biotic."

"Don't take this the wrong way Ranma," Nihlus began. "But are you certain she's fully human doctor?"

"She's genetically as much a normal human female as I am."

"You're certain? No genetic anomalies?"

"None the scanners picked up on. One thing though she has the muscle and bone density beyond a top class athlete. She's very fit if her resting heart-rate is anything to go by."

"I'm the best." Ranma grinned cockily as she hopped down off the examination bed. "So can we go now?"

"I suppose." Nihlus continued to frown.

"Great cause I'm starving!" Ranma exclaimed.

Anderson studied Ranma thoughtfully and more than a little concerned. He needed to speak with Nihlus alone, things had very suddenly changed with this revelation. "There's a café nearby. You can get something there. Nihlus." the Captain looked over to the Turian. "We need to discuss matters."

"Very well." Nihlus didn't miss Anderson's change of tone and found it disconcerting.

They said their goodbyes to the doctor and left the med clinic behind. Anderson led them to the café, which was actually an open food court.

"Take a seat here Ranma." Anderson indicated the nearest table. Ranma pulled up a seat and sat down. The Captain activated the holographic interface sat in the centre of the table and keyed in his details. "There you go. Order anything you want from the human edible menu. Someone will bring it over to you shortly. Nihlus a moment please."

Ranma watched as Anderson led Nihlus away and around a corner so they were out of sight. She debated following them discretely and listening in on the conversation she knew was going to be about her. The Captain had made no effort to disguise his intentions, probably thinking she wasn't as observant as she was. Funny how people would underestimate her because of her short stature and cuteness, something she had used to her advantage many a time.

She knew Nihlus hadn't fallen for it though. He saw through her shape, to see her skills and treated her with respect. She found herself growing to like the alien and his attitude of not caring about who she was but about what she could do.

As she thought things over she let her eyes look over the menu listed. And all the various types of food. It was quite varied, from Asari to Chinese and various others she had no idea what they were. While she studied the menu, she noticed a group of four men approaching.

Ranma immediately tagged them as gangsters, with their purposeful swagger and arrogant air about them. The way they made sure their weapons were visible was another give-away. She kept her eyes on the menu but could already tell they were heading over towards herself.

'Great, what did I do to upset the local...oh, yeah, maybe the Jaret incident.' Ranma sighed in her head.

As she expected, the four approached her table. Three of them walked around to stand to her sides and behind her. The one taking the lead stood across the table.

"Ranma Saotome, you'll remain quiet and calmly walk away with us." the leader demanded.

Ranma sighed. "Why? What did I do?"

"Move. Now!"

"I would but I'm hungry." Ranma faked a whine.

They must have had enough of her being difficult as the one behind her slapped a heavy hand on her shoulder.

"Get up." the leader demanded with a growl.

"You guys ain't being paid enough." Ranma sighed standing up. She reached up to the hand on her shoulder and grabbed it in a vice-like grip. The guy whose hand she began crushing yelped in surprise before he found himself flung in an arc and slammed onto the table top hard enough to stun him.

The remaining thugs went for their guns. They were far too slow to be a threat to Ranma. She kicked back, hooking a foot around one of the thug's calf. She then yanked his leg out from under him, sending him tumbling to the floor. The next nearest was treated to an open palmed strike to the gut which threw him across the food court.

The leader of the group finally aimed at the girl only to find she wasn't there any longer.

"What?" he called out in surprise as she appeared in the air before his face. Almost as if in slow motion he saw her foot lash out and catch him across the jaw. His head snapped back as Ranma connected. He fell over backwards and felt his head bounce off the floor. His vision sparkled with stars and more shouts of surprise went off before three heavy bodies slammed on top of him one after the other.

"Oof!" the wind was knocked out him from the sudden weight. Ranma crouched down before them with her hands on her knees.

"I told you, you guys weren't being paid enough to face me." the redhead stated as the four groaning thugs gathered their wits and slowly rolled off their leader. They stared at the girl stupefied by what had just occurred too fast to understand. Her innocent expression and the way she had her pigtail hanging over her shoulder made the scene even more surreal.

"Pick up your stuff and get lost." Ranma stated sliding the leader's gun back to him. He slowly got to one knee, looked at Ranma who cocked her head and did her best to appear harmless, and then back at his gun. He took a chance.

The leader of the thugs grabbed his gun off the floor and went to aim at Ranma. She sighed and casually plucked the weapon from his hands so fast he never saw it and was left trying to pull the trigger in the air.

"What the -" he finally realised she had moved. Ranma held the gun by the barrel end and lightly clonked him right between the eyes with the butt of its handle, never once leaving her crouch. "Gah!" he fell back onto his rear end, holding his face in pain.

"You know, if you keep this up I'll have to start breaking bones." Ranma stated and to give an example she slowly bent the gun in half. It groaned as pieces popped off as it deformed in her hands to the shock of the thugs. She calmly tossed the broken weapon back to the leader who caught it in his hands. They all stared at the weapon for a moment before fleeing.

Ranma got back to her feet and was surprised by the sudden round of applause she received. Looking around she realised the various aliens and humans that had seen her deal with the thugs were looking on in amusement.

"Thank you! Thank you!" Ranma bowed in amusement at the various comments such as "Must be filming a show."

The incident seemed to be forgotten quickly as people went back to what they had been doing. Ranma picked up the three remaining guns and placed them on the table she returned back to.

"What am I supposed to do with all these guns I'm collecting?" she wondered going back to ordering food.

x-X-x

Anderson led Nihlus around the corner and into a darkened area nearby, a little away from the walkways.

"Is there a problem Captain?" Nihlus asked once they were out of sight of Ranma.

"Unfortunately I can see one coming Nihlus. A big one." Anderson stated with his back to the Turian.

"That ability of Ranma's I take it."

"Exactly. I've never heard of anything like it." Anderson turned to face Nihlus. "She is producing a biotic-like ability seemingly without eezo exposure or any form of bio-amp. Do you have any idea how valuable she has just become to the Systems Alliance?"

"I can hazard a guess." The Turian replied carefully. He suspected he knew where this conversation was going to head now.

"This is big. Could be bigger than the original discovery of biotic potential in humans." Anderson paused and placed his fist against his lips as he thought about how to word what he wanted to say. "When word gets out there is no way the top brass will even consider letting her be placed in danger by joining the Spectres."

"I see."

"They'll want her recalled back to earth immediately."

"So she can become a guinea-pig in some lab, Captain?" Nihlus stated flatly.

"I...for a while. She'd be well looked after and studied until we understand what she can do."

"Does she get a say in this?"

"She's a human. She'll understand her cooperation will be in humanities best interests. As much as I want to see a human in the Spectres I can't allow this girl to be placed into that position. She's far too valuable. Nihlus, please understand. There are other candidates available for you. Who knows, in a few years she might be in a position to join then. Personally I don't like the idea of sending her back home just to spend the next few years in a hospital being studied, but if we were to lose her now we may never find out how to replicate her abilities."

"I must disagree with you Captain. Ranma has the skills we need, I've seen them and I've gotten a pretty decent handle on her personality already. The galaxy needs someone like her."

"Biotics were a massive step up for humanity. Who knows what breakthroughs this girl will bring."

"Respectfully Captain, I couldn't care less. I see her potential. I asked her to join. She agreed." Nihlus stood straight. "I don't see you offering her that choice."

"Sometimes things must be done for the greater good."

"I agree. Becoming a Spectre would be such a time."

"Are you even listening to me?" Anderson resisted the urge to shout. "I don't want to fall out with you over this Nihlus, but I'm going to have to withdraw my support of your choice. Ranma can't be risked."

"I feel that is her own choice."

"And I feel this is bigger than just her."

Nihlus remained thoughtfully silent. Then he spoke again. "I'm sorry Captain. I'm going to have to disagree with you. Ranma's decision was to undergo Spectre evaluation, and that is what will happen."

"You aren't going to budge on this are you." Anderson stated with a sigh.

"No Captain. Talent like this is rare."

"You know I'm going to have to go to Udina with this. Ranma is human. Her duty is to humanity first. I'm sorry Nihlus."

"Do you plan to just...take her off me?"

"We need her Nihlus. We need her under our protection until she is safely back on Earth."

"Then I'm sorry to say Captain, I'm going to have to overrule your demands." Nihlus stated. "As a Council Spectre, only answerable to the Citadel Council itself, I rank higher than yourself and I have decided Ranma will continue to be assessed."

"Nihlus!" Anderson stepped back in surprise.

"If humanity doesn't like Council rules then they are free to withdrawn from Council space. If such a thing happens then they will be well within their rights to take Ranma away from the Spectres. Until such time, Ranma comes under my command, protection and training." Nihlus stated with a firm resolve. "I have already made the Council aware of my decision to assess Ranma."

Captain Anderson could only stare. He slowly brought his hands to his head and began rubbing at his temples. "You're putting me in a very awkward position."

"I'm sorry Captain, I understand how your superiors will react. I've butted heads many times in the past with those same higher ups in my own youth, but I've always done what I've felt is the right thing. Putting Ranma into a laboratory for years on end is a waste of her talent that she could be using to help *all* the citizens of the galaxy, not just humanity."

"Then we have nothing more to discuss." Anderson turned away. "Nihlus, I hope neither of us regret what you're doing." He walked away quickly and stiffly.

"So do I." Nihlus stated as he watched the Captain disappear down the street. "But I have a feeling about her."

The Spectre turned and headed back into the food court. He spotted Ranma eating away and strode quickly up to her.

"Hey Nihlus." Ranma greeted in between chewing. "Some of this Asari stuff is great!"

"So I've heard, not that I'll ever test it out." Nihlus nodded sitting in the chair opposite. As he sat down he spotted a pile of three guns. His eyes narrowed.

"What happened?" Nihlus pointed at the stack of weapons.

"Oh that. A bunch of thugs tried to kidnap me or something." Ranma casually waved the attack off as if it were something that occurred to her a lot. "I beat them up a little and told them to get lost."

Nihlus remained silent as he quickly began to suspect what had occurred. 'Saren's testing her already? I was supposed to be given a whole day.'

"Hey, what do I do with all the guns I'm collecting? Got four already." Ranma asked tapping her chin with a finger.

"Keep them. They might be useful at a later date. Or you could sell them for credits. Any place will buy them as they can always be broken down into Omni-gel."

"Think I'll sell them then. Ain't got a use for a gun." Ranma finished off the remainder of her meal by picking up the bowl and slurping down the remaining contents.

"I'd suggest you keep at least one, Ranma." Nihlus watched her reaction carefully.

"Why? I can take guys down before they even pull the trigger." she placed the bowl down.

"At the very least, intimidation factor. People will be less likely to pick a fight with you if they see you carrying one. The best way win a fight is to avoid it so they say." Nihlus could see she wasn't interested. He noted that for a later date. "You should carry one, even if you never use it. Nobody would take you seriously as a Spectre unless you did so."

"I like it better when they don't. Makes the look on their faces more amusing when I kick their asses." Ranma grinned across the table.

"I can believe that." Nihlus stated wondering if his face had been 'amusing' when she had kicked him across the embassy. "For now, just keep hold of them."

"Fine." Ranma shrugged and gathered the weapons up.

"Lets drop them back at your room. Then we should get you something smart to wear for when I present you to the Council." Nihlus got out of the chair.

"I ain't wearing a dress." Ranma stated with absolute finality as she followed the Spectre out the food court.

"Did I mention a dress?" Nihlus looked to his side as Ranma drew up along him.

"Just saying."

"Ah, don't worry. As long as it's tidy it shouldn't matter what you wear." Nihlus remarked and then began eyeing her thoughtfully. "Hmmm."

"What?" Ranma noticed the look.

"I'm just thinking how good you'd look in an Asari dress." Nihlus joked.

"Make me wear one and you'll end up in one too, even if I have to knock you out to get you in it." Ranma threatened and cracked her knuckles. Nihlus laughed in reply.

It didn't take them too long the take the weapons back to Ranma's room and then they headed down into the markets. The markets were heaving with aliens and humans shopping or just hanging around various stores.

"This looks promising." Nihlus stated pointing at the advertisement in the clothes shop window, stating they had all the latest fashions. They went in. Ranma looked around and wasn't too surprised to find it laid out exactly like any other clothes store she had been dragged to before. However, unlike the store being divided into male or female areas, it was divided into various species.

Ranma wandered down and isle and recognised some of the suits on sale from the people outside. Nihlus just trailed after her, watching her look around.

"M-May I help you?" An Asari approached them carefully. She wore a white and pink dress and her skin tone was close to purple. She looked nervous at the sight of a fully armoured Turian and a human girl in worn clothing browsing the store.

"My associate needs some new clothes. Something casual and something she can wear to a meeting." Nihlus spoke in a reassuring tone.

The Asari looked at Ranma for a moment. "We have a fine selection of dress-"

"No dresses." both Nihlus and Ranma stated. Ranma in annoyance and Nihlus with a tiny hint of concern for his reputation.

"Ooooookay." The Asari shopkeeper replied carefully. "This way." she led them further into the shop. "Here are some of the human fashions." She indicated the hanging clothes.

Ranma browsed about a bit, looking for something close to her usual style. She found a red T-shirt with a black pattern running down the sides. Picking it up she found it to be a flexible honeycomb patterned material with padding in places.

"This looks okay." Ranma stated giving the shirt an experimental tug. The material stretched easily and quickly sprung back into shape when she let go. "What's this padding for?" Ranma asked poking the shirt.

"That's the special nano-materials that allow the shirt to form to the contours of your body and help to keep your chest comfortable even in the most demanding of professions. The materials will also allow your skin to breathe properly and prevent body odour. As a bonus they do not require pressing and only a quick rinse will clean most stains right off."

"Oh cool." Ranma replied having no idea what nano-materials were but they sounded cool. "Got any pants like these?" Ranma tugged on her damaged silk pants.

"I believe these are similar." The Asari took down a loose black pair of pants and handed them over to Ranma. She took them and gave them the once over. They were more like cargo pants with the various pouches on them. With a shrug she decided they would do.

"Would you like to try them on?"

"Sure. I need to replace these." Ranma nodded.

"The changing booths are over there." The Asari pointed.

"You get changed Ranma. I'll pay for them." Nihlus said.

"What? You will?" Ranma glanced up at the Spectre.

"Sure."

"Oh. Thanks."

Nihlus watched Ranma wander off for a moment before he followed the Asari over to the counter. He used his portable computer to set up a transfer of funds for what they would be buying. As he was doing that, Nihlus spotted four fully armoured up men, including helmets that obscured their faces walk into the store. They each had an assault rifle ready.

"Ranma! Watch out!" Nihlus shouted a warning, already moving for his own weapon. Three of the men opened fire on the changing booths and one began firing towards the Spectre. Nihlus vaulted over the counter and dragged the stunned Asari shopkeeper down to the ground as weapon's fire began shattering the area behind the counter.

"Shit!" Nihlus swore as shards of metal and plastic rained down around him. The Asari began shrieking. In his head he counted the rate of fire and estimated how much heat would be building in the attackers weapons. Nihlus waited for the right moment and then broke cover firing at the men.

His first shot was almost perfect, catching the one firing at him in the chest. The kinetic barriers on his armour saved him from the damage.

"Retreat!" he shouted laying down covering fire and forcing Nihlus to duck again as the rest took a few shots in his direction as well.

Nihlus stood up again and aimed, hoping his armour would protect him for a few seconds as they still were firing in his direction. A couple of rounds glanced off his shields as he aimed. His jaw suddenly dropped and he forgot to pull the trigger as he saw Ranma was changed and literally clinging to the ceiling above the wreckage of the booth that had collapsed under all the gunfire. He snapped out of his surprise just in time to flatten himself to the ground again.

Ranma dropped down and charged her attackers, launching herself into a flying kick. The closest one didn't even see the blow that shattered his shields, sending him stumbled away, crashing into a clothes rack and tripping over it as it fell. The other three turned in surprise at the attack as Ranma flipped off backwards from the point of impact and landed lightly. One tried to bring his weapon up but she slapped it away and punched him in the stomach. His shield flared against her knuckles blocking the blow.

Ranma blinked in surprise as it had felt as if she had just hit Ryouga for all the good it did. The attacker recovered from his own surprise and lashed out with his weapon, hoping to catch her across the jaw. She saw the move coming a mile away and leaned back out of the way. She snapped a kick into the guy's helmet. He was lifted off the ground from the force as his shield finally gave up and then crashed back onto the ground with a thud.

The next nearest guy's shields suddenly flared, seconds before the side of his helmet blew out in a red mist. Ranma stared in horror for a moment before realising that had been Nihlus. The Spectre repeated the attack on the last one standing who was too slow to round towards the other threat.

Ranma could only watch in shock as the Spectre quickly approached and ruthlessly fired into the one trying to rise from the ground from her kick, killing him as well.

"Thanks for the distraction." Nihlus congratulated Ranma.

"W-what the hell are you doing?!" Ranma shouted as Nihlus walked up. "We've beat them."

"Making sure they aren't a further threat." Nihlus remarked calmly placing one foot against the surviving member and holding him down. He aimed his weapon at the attacker. "Now, I'm going to ask a few questions." Nihlus growled.

"Fuck you!" the guy stated as he released the trigger on a grenade he had ready.

Nihlus reacted instantly. He grabbed Ranma and dragged her with him, putting himself between the unarmoured girl and the explosion as the blast went off. Most of the impact and shrapnel was reflected by his shields, but they were both flung away from the explosion and crashed through more clothes racks.

"Damn it." Nihlus pushed himself up off Ranma and shook his head. There was the familiar ringing in his ears from the explosion. "You okay?" he asked climbing to his feet and offering Ranma a hand up which she ignored.

"Fine." Ranma replied snappishly. She looked around the ruined store, covered in debris from the explosion and the bodies.

"Those guys were professionals. Being willingly to blow yourself up rather than capture is proof enough." Nihlus thought aloud as he walked over to the nearest corpse. He crouched and lifted the visor so he could study the human's face. "Have you seen this guy before?" He asked Ranma as she walked up to him and looked on feeling slightly queasy.

"That's...one of the guys from the food court." She replied weakly as she did recognise him.

"Hmm, then they must have regrouped and gotten bigger weapons for their second attempt. Now we know they were definitely targeting you." Nihlus stood back up. "I'm going to quickly report this in so C-Sec will know the situation's dealt with."

"Yeah...whatever." Ranma stated as she wandered off almost in a daze. This had not been anything at all like the fights she usually got into. No warnings or nothing. If Nihlus hadn't shouted she might not have been able to react so fast and get out of the way. She still felt slightly creeped out by Nihlus's calm and clinical manner on how he despatched the attackers.

She leaned against the counter as she tried to sort her thoughts out. As she was doing that a faint choking cough and whimper distracted her. Ranma looked over the ruined counter. Her eyes went wide at the sight of the Asari shopkeeper, lying in a pool of blood and staring up at her with a look of shock on her face.

"Nihlus call an ambulance!" Ranma vaulted over the counter. She dropped to her knees so she could hold the Asari as she made more weak choking noises. "Hold on!"

"Damn." Nihlus stated quietly after he rushed over. He knew their was no chance they could get her the medical attention she required in time. He walked quickly around the wreckage of the counter while still putting in the call. Ranma held the Asari's head gently on her knees, getting blood over her new clothes and tried her best to comfort her.

"Nihlus! We have to stop the bleeding!"

"Ranma...." Nihlus put a hand on the girl's shoulder as the Asari gave a final weak gasp and went still. "It's too late. I'm sorry."

"But..." Ranma stared at the lifeless eyes of the shopkeeper and felt a chill come over her. She paid no attention to the flashing lights that were approaching or even Nihlus as he stood over her.

x-X-x

Saren sat quietly on the edge of the ruined bed, in the darkness of his room. Waiting. The recent upgrades given to him, gave him perfect vision, even in total darkness. He found the quiet and the dark comforting. Safe. As if he were hiding and nobody or no thing could find him. He knew it was an illusion his mind was trying to present, to make him feel better, to give him hope. Sovereign was always there.

A sudden loud chirp from his personal computer went off.

For a while longer he ignored it. Trying to leave his mind blank, to block out the constant pressure he felt pressing down on it and his soul, crushing his will to resist.

Finally he grew annoyed at the noise and activated the encrypted communication channel.

"Is it done?" Saren growled.

"They failed. The girl took them out with help." a distorted voice stated. "There was another Spectre with her. You'll have to pay more-"

Saren deactivated the channel and clenched his fists. Without warning he slammed his right fist against the wall, leaving another dent and growled low in the back of his throat.

"Humans. Can't even take out a child on their own." Saren muttered. He knew Nihlus would instantly believe this was the test he had been going to arrange. He would have to play that angle. He used his computer to connect to the Spectres direct link to the Council and left a message. "I've tested the girl. The results are...satisfactory. I would request a meeting with Nihlus to present her."

Saren closed the link, feeling disgusted he had even had to agree the girl was capable. The Council would contact them when ready.

He pushed himself to his feet and walked over to the small crate he had in his room. Reaching down, Saren pulled a release handle and the side of the crate fell away. A single round glowing white light appeared in the depths and a strange electronic clicking noise emanated from within.

"I have a mission for you." Saren said stepping back.

x-X-x

Ranma stood outside the ruined clothes store and watched numbly as the medics carried the bodies out on floating stretchers. Three and a half mercenaries were removed in body-bags and one Asari.

She watched with a feeling of guilt as the Asari's bag was zipped up and the body placed in the back of a van-like car. Ranma sighed, knowing she could have stopped this whole incident from happening. She was supposed to be a martial artist who defended those weaker. A man among men, well, without the curse. She wanted to find out who had sent them after her, and when she found them, a few broken bones would be the least of their worries. Somebody had sent them after her. She wasn't stupid, they had known her name.

Nihlus was giving a statement about what had happened to one of the other Turians from C-Sec. Occasionally they would look over to her. Soon the officer seemed satisfied and walked away. Nihlus headed over to her.

"You going to be okay?" Nihlus gave Ranma's shoulder a gentle squeeze, to which she shrugged him off.

"Fine." Ranma stated flatly.

"Those guys were local mercs. Anybody could have hired them, but I think I know who did." Nihlus said.

"Who?" Ranma looked up at him and her face hardened.

"Saren was going to arrange a test for yourself." Nihlus explained. "I can only guess he hired those mercs to attempt to kidnap you or something similar. You humiliating them probably made them come after you that second time."

"You knew he'd do something like this!" Ranma exploded, clenching her fists and glaring at the Turian in disgust.

"Calm down. We were supposed to have a whole day to prepare for it. Either Saren screwed up or those mercs did. I can understand allowing them to use force, but this...this is going too far." Nihlus turned to stare at the store.

"I'm going to hit him so hard he'll be eating through a straw for years." Ranma growled.

"Not a good idea." Nihlus stated as he turned back to Ranma. "Saren is practically a living legend, one of the Council's best. If you attack him, he'll fight back with deadly force. We need to go to the Council and let them know what happened. They'll arrange his punishment, if any. I have my doubts they'll be too harsh though."

"So he just gets away with this?"

"Understand this, the galaxy is a large place. To keep the peace, the Council needs all the Spectres it can get. There will be an investigation of course, but they are unlikely to just revoke his status for this." Nihlus could see Ranma wasn't pleased. "I suggest you use this as a lesson. Bad things happen in this galaxy. There are a lot of people like those mercs out there. Those are the ones we Spectres deal with. Day in. Day out. They won't give their victims mercy, so we must stop them before they can hurt too many innocents. That is our job. We do what others can't. Letting them go was a mistake."

"And what do you think I should have done? Killed them?" Ranma glared.

"Sometimes you have no other choice. But you could have stopped this a number of ways. You could have killed them or you could have disabled them somehow and left them for C-Sec. It's up to you to decide how to deal with them. This time, you screwed up. Next time you won't. Right?"

"There might not be next time." Ranma mumbled, not sure whether the Spectres were something she wanted to join any more. Nihlus saw the doubt in her eyes.

"Are you wanting to walk away?" Nihlus asked. "Forget your candidacy? It would be a shame to see you turn your back on the people of the galaxy. We defend those that can't defend themselves. It is our duty and our lives. If you could stop things like this occurring would you?"

Ranma looked past the Spectre at the store. Nihlus's words echoed her father's teaching that he hammered into her head about it being her duty to defend normal people from threats.

"It's a martial artist's duty to defend those weaker than themselves." Ranma stated.

"Then you'll continue?" Nihlus nodded, pleased with Ranma's words.

"I guess. But what about Saren?"

"We'll let the Council deal with Saren. They'll-" Nihlus was interrupted as his communicator beeped. "Nihlus here." he answered the device. Ranma watched on as Nihlus nodded and said. "I see. We'll be there as soon as we can."

"What was that?" Ranma asked as the Spectre finished speaking.

"The Council wishes to see us. Seems Saren has already owned up to the attack." Nihlus stated. "We should go."

End Chapter

Okay, notes time.

On Captain Anderson's decision. Anderson is a nice guy, but he is also a military man through and through, and many times throughout Mass Effect he states that what you do will be in humanities best interests. Can't blame him for looking after humanity first and Ranma's abilities would be seen as a big one-up on the rest of the galaxy.

Cool thing about Mass Effect is there's a load of minor characters to use, so very little need to make OC's. \o/ Yay.

This took me at least two day's longer to write because of this cold kicking my ass and making concentrating on anything for more than a few minutes harder than it should have been. _

Hope I've not made a real dog's dinner of this because of that.

If anyone wants to know Saren's class, its badass. :P


	4. Chapter 4

Wild Effect

Chapter 4

The elevator up to the top of Citadel Tower moved at an infuriatingly slow pace to Ranma as she paced back and forth, and fidgeted angrily inside the tiny round compartment. Nihlus stood to the side and calmly waited, watching the agitated human. He decided to impart some wisdom and reached out as Ranma passed.

"Calm down." Nihlus stated as he rested his hand on Ranma's shoulder. She stopped pacing and stared up at the Turian. "Going in all worked up and gunning for a fight isn't going to look good in front of the Council."

"Like I care how I look to them!" Ranma folded her arms, setting herself into a defiant pose. "Saren got that lady killed. I'm going to make sure he gets what's coming."

"You may not but I do. If you go in there and attack Saren, not only could you get yourself killed -" Ranma scoffed at the very idea, to which Nihlus pointedly ignored and continued. "- it would reflect badly on you and me as well. I put you forward, showing how much faith I have in you and if you do something like that it would ruin your chances of joining the Spectres and leave my judgement, now and in the future, in question." Nihlus explained. "Ranma, you need to calm down and look at the big picture. Your actions no longer reflect on just yourself but humanity and me as well. Please calm down; I have put a lot of faith into you."

Ranma took a moment to think as she heard the almost pleading tone Nihlus was addressing her with. His words began to sink in, and it reminded her of all the times she had been the one who ended up paying for her father's mistakes. How her father's actions had often reflected badly on her. Suddenly she found the prospect of her actions reflecting badly on one of the few people who actually had taken time to understand her before drawing conclusions on her personality, disturbing. She sighed reluctantly.

"Fine. I get your point." Ranma turned away from Nihlus, who let his hand drop off her shoulder. She looked out the glass walls of the elevator at the Citadel beyond. "It's not just my honour on the line, but! I'm still going to make him pay."

"And he will. The Council is likely to be lenient with him, but that doesn't mean we can't work on making his life difficult."

"How?"

"We do what Spectres do best. Watch. Gather information. Plan. Perform a surgical strike. This would be a perfect opportunity to see your skills in this area. In this case, we will watch Saren's actions for further misconduct. My instincts are telling me something is *up* with him, he isn't acting like himself."

"You mean he's not usually a murdering jerk?" Ranma rounded on Nihlus with and incredulous stare.

"No, Saren's always been ruthless, but normally he wouldn't place an innocent in danger." Nihlus stated. He added silently to himself. 'Unless it was a human.'

"Ranma, I need you to understand one thing about Saren. He hates humans, and will likely be trying his best to prevent your candidacy."

"I figured that out the moment we met." Ranma nodded seriously.

"Good, you're a quick judge of character."

"He didn't exactly try to hide it." she almost rolled her eyes but caught herself.

"Saren's issues with humanity run deep. I suspect he will try his hardest to twist anything you say or do around to make you look bad. I need you to remain calm, keep quiet unless the Council ask you for information directly and *please* be polite."

"I'm always polite." Ranma drawled with a smirk.

"Yes...*sure* you are." Nihlus gently shook his head. "But seriously, can you remain calm and focused for me?"

"If you promise me we'll teach him a lesson later." Ranma stared up, her face determined.

"I promise to do all I can to make sure he doesn't cause something like this again." Nihlus agreed. "But, Saren's a Spectre which does place him above the law as such. I'm sure though, we can point out that this incident was not part of his Spectre duties. But for now we'll just have to wait and accept whatever the Council decide."

"What if I don't like what they decide?" Ranma asked.

"You'll just have to deal with it." Nihlus replied watching her twitch in annoyance. "The Council is the ultimate authority on law in Council space Ranma. You can't go any higher."

"So they're like the Emperor or something?"

"Close. The three representatives from the main Council races will act together with their home world governments and those of other species with a big enough impact on Council Space to decide the galactic laws. No one member has more say than the others."

"Oh, great...powerful people. Knowing my luck, I'm gonna end up with a whole race either wanting to kill or marry me." Ranma sighed.

"Why do you say that?" Nihlus questioned as he noticed how Ranma sounded resigned to the fact.

"Ah...it's just people either hate me or want to marry me." Ranma looked thoughtful and added with a shudder. "Some want both."

"That's a little crazy. What do you do to them?"

"Nothing!" Ranma shrugged.

"Really? You don't say anything...odd...to them at all?"

"Nah! Like, take Akane. I'm telling her she should train harder 'cause her legs are too thick and it makes her unable to kick properly and she'll hit me for no reason."

"..." Nihlus just stared uncomfortably down at Ranma.

"I mean what's her problem?" Ranma asked.

"Yeah...I wonder what..." Nihlus stated flatly and noted that Ranma was definitely on the blunt side. He would have to work on that with her. "I think...you should let me do the talking and just answer any questions they ask you."

"Politely." Nihlus added firmly. "Just...please keep your emotions under control and don't attack Saren."

"Under control, eh?" Ranma gave a wryly grin. "I can do that."

"Good." The Spectre nodded. He was going to say something else when he felt a small but noticeable temperature drop in the lift. "Hmm? Is it me or is there a draft in here?" Nihlus glanced up.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Ranma stated flatly.

Nihlus turned back to her and eyed her suspiciously. Ranma shrugged nonchalantly at his questioning gaze. Anything further that Nihlus was about to say went unsaid as the elevator came to a smooth halt and a chime indicated they had arrived. The glass door slid smoothly down, allowing them access to the Council chamber.

"Let's go." Nihlus quickly put the odd chill to the back of his mind as he stepped out into the Council chamber. Ranma followed him out of the elevator and took time examining the area as they walked along a wide corridor and up a short flight of steps. She was expecting something grand and wasn't disappointed.

The corridor opened out into a large round chamber with a big circular water feature lit with multiple underwater lighting and filled with fountains. They constantly sprayed water high into the air. The water feature had a barrier around it, tall enough that most species could lean comfortably against while they looked upon the water-feature. The floor was a polished metal, and the areas lighting with a smooth glow emanating from the numerous lights placed low to the ground or around head-height.

"Aren't those cherry trees?" Ranma pointed to the blossoming trees before them as Nihlus led her around the fountains and up another flight of stairs to another large open area laid out like a park. It even had benches around the outside, where a few aliens and humans, all wearing what appeared to be expensive clothing sat or wandered about.

"They are indeed." he confirmed. "Even if most species are distrustful of humanity, they have to admit your planet does have some beautiful plant-life."

"Huh. Neat." Ranma nodded. She followed Nihlus past the garden area and up another flight of steps. Coming to the top of the final set of step, she had to slip further into the soul of ice technique to prevent herself from reacting. Saren was there. He stood facing the three Council members and was finishing saying something she didn't catch.

"Ah, Nihlus." The Turian councillor greeted. "You're here. Good, we can proceed."

"Nihlus." Saren nodded politely in greeting after he turned towards them. He didn't look at Ranma as they walked up towards him.

"Saren." Nihlus replied civilly as he went to stand beside the other Spectre and keep himself between Saren and Ranma. Ranma moved quicker though, she slipped past him and placed herself beside Saren. She didn't acknowledge the older Spectre and just looked ahead towards the Council, curiously studying them.

Nihlus forced the grimace off his face and smoothly adjusted his course so it looked like he hadn't been planning to place himself between the human and his former mentor.

Saren turned his eyes to study Ranma, keeping his face neutral as she stopped within arm's reach of himself. He felt a chill run through him, icy fingers running down his spine for no reason he could put his finger on. He had expected her to angry or upset, to show some emotion over what had occurred, but she just stood there, looking towards the Council with as much feeling as one his Geth followers. A nervous worry grew at the back of his mind for reasons he could not place, as if he were missing something vital.

Forcing his thoughts away from the girl, he concentrated on the current situation with the Council. His attention turned back towards the three Council members but he couldn't help shake the feeling that the chill he felt was emanating from the small human. Something about her was setting his teeth on edge, not that he had long to worry about it. Soon, she would be dealt with.

"And this must be Ranma Saotome." The Asari councillor studied Ranma from across the gap. "You've caught the eye of one of our Spectres in a most interesting manner. Bypassing Citadel security. Breaking into the human embassy. Evading capture from a fully armed group of C-Sec  
officers. Fighting with a Krogan...hand-to-hand, and finally, successfully passing a test arranged by one of our best that went tragically wrong."

"Sorry about that." Ranma stated flatly. Nihlus was surprised at how controlled she was keeping herself as she spoke. He had almost expected her to burst out into a rant about Saren, but she was staying exceptionally calm and speaking in a level voice.

"No need to be sorry for your actions. You did what you could." The Salarian councillor remarked. "Your abilities are indeed the qualities we seek in a Spectre, as long as they are turned to the greater good of course."

"True. If not for all the evidence and Saren's own words...I would not believe a human was this...capable." The Turian councillor added. Nihlus turned towards Saren, surprised that the older Spectre had acknowledged Ranma's skills.

"Her abilities are...unquestionable." Saren stated, a small hint of distaste entering his voice. He knew trying to deny her skills in front of the Council, with all the evidence that showed how good she was would make him look biased and call his judgement into question. "She has skill...whether she is up to being a Spectre...that is another matter entirely."

"That's why I've only asked for her candidacy, so I could proceed to evaluate her further." Nihlus turned back to the Council. He placed a hand proudly on Ranma's shoulder and indicated her with his other hand. "Ranma has all the skills. That I'm certain of. Within a year, or less, of missions under myself I believe she will prove herself more than capable. Also, she has a personal matter I wish to help her with."

"The Council agrees with your caution in this matter." The Asari councillor took over. "As it stands, Ranma has no history we know of. Either her records do not exist, or humanity is not supplying access to them. This may be a minor problem, many are born in distance places and do not have full records-" she paused; halting her speech mid-sentence as the human ambassador came rushing up the steps.

"I demand you cease this farce this instant!" Udina burst out loudly, red-faced from the exertion of rushing up all the steps. Captain Anderson followed him much more calmly, but even he had a tightness in his eyes as he caught up with the out-of-breath ambassador. He wore the look of somebody under pressure.

The three council members shared a knowing look between themselves, as if they had been expecting the interruption, while two Spectres and one redhead turned towards it in curiosity. The loud interruption also drew the attention of various visiting dignitaries, many of whom moved over to the high balconies that overlooked the Council, to stare down at the proceedings.

"Anderson." Saren rumbled in a fake greeting as the Captain and he shared a glare of mutual distaste at being in the others presence.

"Saren." Anderson acknowledged bitterly before ignoring the Spectre and waited for Udina to recover.

Ranma glanced up at Nihlus, wondering what was going on. He gently squeezed her shoulder in reply and faintly shook his head. She took the hint and remained quiet.

"Ambassador," The Turian councillor spoke for the Council, being the one with the most powerful voice. "You do *not* demand of the Council."

"Indeed, this is a meeting between the Council and its Spectres." The Salarian councillor agreed. "Feel free to watch the proceedings, but interruptions are not to be tolerated."

"Let us not be too hasty." The Asari councillor put forward, playing the voice of reason. "This meeting does concern a human after all. Perhaps we should hear what the voice of humanity wishes."

"...Very well. The Council will hear why the Ambassador considers this a...farce." The Turian councillor stated darkly, letting his tone of voice state his opinion.

Udina recovered his breath and quickly adjusted his suit. He stepped forward to speak. "Forgive my ill chosen words from the heat of the moment, but this was only just brought to my attention." Udina apologised as he sent Anderson an ugly look from the corner of his eyes. "I'm both shocked and appalled to discover that Nihlus is sabotaging our efforts by ignoring us and choosing his *own* candidate without consulting me on this matter? Ignoring all the work and trust we've placed upon him!"

"Oh?" Saren sounded amused by the turn of events as he drawled in the background.

"Respectfully Ambassador, I'm free to choose my own candidate, *if* I find someone with the necessary skills. I've found such a person." Nihlus indicated Ranma. "She is far beyond any of my expectations of a human. Or any other species, I might add."

"The Council agrees with its Spectre." The Asari councillor said. "Nihlus is well within his rights to choose a candidate without your approval Ambassador. Spectres aren't trained, they're chosen by the Council. Candidates are put forward by an older Spectre who has the experience to judge a person's abilities."

"Indeed. Nihlus is one of our most respected and from the evidence of her skills we see no reason not to allow this girl to be evaluated for Spectre candidacy. Despite Saren's over-the-top methods, she proved capable of handling the unfortunate situation." The Salarian councillor added. As he finished talking, a mummer of surprise went through the gathering crowd on the balconies.

"The Council finds it surprising that you would protest this Ambassador. Have you not been pushing to get a human into the ranks of the Spectres for a long time?" The Turian councillor pointed out.

"This would be the second attempt, actually." Saren added smugly as he sent Anderson an amused look. The Captain ignored the Spectre's jibe at their past relationship.

"We protest this decision for two reasons. One, she is still a child. By our laws, she wouldn't be eligible for military duty until eighteen years of age. Two, she has no military service. We cannot put our backing behind this girl while we have perfectly able and *trained* personnel already assigned for candidacy!" Udina exclaimed loudly.

The Council members took a moment to exchange glances and private messages between the computers in the podiums before them. Finally the Asari spoke. "We were unaware that this girl is still only a child by your laws. In light of this fact, it may be better to delay her candidacy until she reaches maturity. Do you have anything to add, Nihlus?"

Saren looked up in interest. It suddenly seemed he didn't have to be concerned over the girl after all. 'Too bad I've already given the order.' he thought darkly amused by the turn of events. 'It should be happening any time now.'

Nihlus took a moment to look over at Anderson, who met his gaze with a pleading look. The Spectre knew from what Udina was leaving out of his speech, what it was that Anderson didn't want him to mention. Nihlus then turned his gaze to regard Ranma and knew he couldn't remain quiet and let her be left the fate he knew the Alliance was planning for her. He wasn't certain as to how Ranma would react to the knowledge, but he had been backed into a corner.

"Yes. Yes I do." Nihlus turned to the Council. "There is *one* thing that the Ambassador is leaving out." As Nihlus spoke, Anderson's face took on a look of horror. "Ranma has some of the strongest biotics I have ever seen."

"It's ki." Ranma sighed quietly correcting Nihlus.

Saren frowned. 'That isn't something exceptional...what are you up to Nihlus? You never do something unless you have a plan.'

"You can't!" Udina burst out, taking a surprised step closer.

"Interesting." The Turian councillor noted. "You hadn't mentioned this in your reports, but what exactly is your point? Biotics are fairly rare, but nothing exceptionally unusual."

"At the time, I had no idea she was biotic. It wouldn't be such a big deal if not for the fact that she has *no detectable* implants. When she displayed such abilities, the Captain and I had her scanned for such devices. Ranma's powerful abilities are all. Completely. Natural."

x-X-x

"And this must be Ranma Saotome." the voice of the Asari Councillor floated up to the top of the Council chamber, where high above the proceedings below and hidden in the shadows of the walkway that only saw use by the Keepers, a cloaked figure stared down in surprise. His eyes narrowed under his hood at the familiar redhead that was the centre of attention.

"Impossible." he growled out in a rough, aged voice while clenching his fingers tightly around the railing, leaving behind an impression as the toughened metal deformed under inhuman strength.

"There's no way..." He finally relented to believing what he was seeing. "You bastard."

There was no doubt in his mind who had done this. There was only one man alive who had the knowledge and resources to bring her back. The same one that had somehow tracked him down, and left a message after he had done everything in his power to become lost to humanity long ago. That message was the only reason he had returned to Council space after all these years. He had to know if it were true, and so it was. As impossible as it were, Ranma Saotome had returned.

A noise from nearby behind him instantly made him activate the tactical cloaking device he wore, making him to all intents and purposes vanish from sight. He went completely still, even as he glanced to the side with only his eyes to study where the noise had emanated from.

A glowing lens became visible in the shadows, standing out brightly like a beacon. He immediately recognised the mechanical creature that crawled out of the ventilation shaft and scurried along the wall like a four-limbed spider.

'What's the Geth doing here?' he thought in surprise as he tracked it movements. 'They don't come out of the veil.'

His curiosity definitely piqued by this odd occurrence, almost as much as how the redhead below could actually exist. As he watched it, it took up a position that gave it the best view of the room below. His instincts told him it was not here for sightseeing and the moment the Geth pulled a high-powered sniper-rifle out it confirmed his suspicions. He acted.

Almost silently, he turned and jumped onto the railing behind him. Then he leapt across the distance between him and the Geth in a single bound, to land behind it.

x-X-x

The Geth crawled along the narrow and completely darkened ventilation shafts of Citadel Tower. It had no problem contorting itself to fit through the often oddly formed shafts that a living creature of its size would have been unable to crawl through. The artificial being could see perfectly well in the darkness of the shafts and it did not feel any sense of the claustrophobia that many living species would do in such tight surroundings.

Following the map that the Prophet of Nazara had downloaded to the current mobile platform's memory-banks had led the Geth to the last leg of its journey. It paused and rotated its head around to look up. The shaft continued onwards, but also split off and became a vertical climb.

The Geth pulled its arms into the vertical shaft. Its fingers easily attaching to the smooth metal surface with magnets, and it quickly scurried up the vertical shaft faster and quieter than many would believe possible, taking care not to bang the powerful sniper-rifle that it carrier attached to its back.

Near the top of the shaft, it detected an increase in ambient light and slowed to a crawl. Its single glowing lens-eye slowly rose to peer out through the angled metal slats of the vent. It was high above the Council chambers, precisely where it was supposed to be.

The Geth reached its two fingers through the slats and squeezed them tightly, before pulling the vent fascia into the shaft, gently and with as little noise as possible. It folded the fascia in two and attached it to its own back as to not alert anyone of its presence that may have been heard it dropping a lump of metal down a shaft.

Then it quickly, but carefully crawled out the shaft and scurried as fast as it could up and long the wall. It finally reached its destination, a ledge high above the trees and hidden from sight in the shadows. It carefully took position and zoomed its vision in to seek the target. It quickly spotted the small human it had been tasked with eliminating.

Parts of it were curious as to how the single human was a treat to the pinnacle of synthetics that was Nazara, but that would not prevent it from completing the mission. It reached back and removed the sniper-rifle, which unfolded to its full length as the Geth placed it into a firing position. The Geth took a moment to adjust for all the possible factors that may affect the shot as it lined up with her head and went to fire.

A sudden movement behind it in the dark was the only warning the Geth had. It was almost as if something had just appeared behind it, moments before powerful fingers slammed into the back of its neck, punching through its armour like tinfoil. A powerful hand grabbed the front of its long head and covered the lens-eye, blocking its vision. The other hand of the mysterious assailant pressed hard against the back of the artificial being's neck.

With one final, powerful tug, the Geth's head separated from its body with a spurt of white synthetic fluids. The body collapsed with nothing to control it any longer. The final sight the Geth transmitted back to the collective Geth intelligence was of the view spinning so that the shadowy figure could look it in the lens-eye just as the last of its power drained away. The mobile platform was no longer transmitting.

For a moment, the man in the shadows studied the Geth's head. He shrugged and dropped the lifeless metal lump to the ledge. Stepping forward he crouched to one knee and rested an arm over it. He stared down at the proceedings below. His eyes narrowed and hardened as he saw there was only one target the Geth could have been aiming for. A familiar redhead.

"Now then...why are the Geth wanting you dead?" he wondered as he took a thoughtful glance to his side and at the broken body. 'Did he somehow send it? Or someone else? Guess I'll have to find out.' he thought to himself.

"Okay Illusive Man...we'll play your game." He stated darkly. "For now."

x-X-x

Nihlus stood patiently and let what he had said sink in. The silence that descended on the Council chamber was enough to let him know his point had been made. He continued on quickly pressing his advantage.

"The reason the Ambassador didn't mention this is because the Alliance are planning on treating Ranma as a science experiment. They wish to lock her away until they can replicate her abilities and weaponise them."

"What?" Ranma exclaimed, slipping out of the soul-of-ice to stare at Anderson in shock. A look of betrayal crossed her face as a sensation of cold fingers gripped her heart. They wanted to put her in a laboratory to figure out her ki. She quickly grew annoyed at the idea. Didn't anyone know martial arts here? "Typical." she muttered under her breath. "Whenever anyone is nice to me they're after something."

Anderson palmed his face while muttering "No, no, no." repeatedly to himself.

"Figures." Saren stated sounding disgusted. He then loudly addressed the Council. "How can we believe humans are ready to join the ranks of the Spectres and treat the galaxy with respect, when they can't even treat their own species with it? It's clear to see they are after power by any means. But what else can you expect from humans." He uttered the word "humans" with utter contempt.

"That is not true!" Udina protested and began to attempt to salvage the situation. "She would be given a military rank and salary to go along with any advancement she can bring us. In turn, in the future, her joining the Spectres would be encouraged. In the long run, everyone benefits from such an arrangement."

"Given? So she has no say in this matter. Then what you're talking about is little more than enslavement." Nihlus accused, choosing his words to have to most impact.

"Guys?" Ranma tried to speak, but no one listened as Udina raised his voice angrily.

"I resent these baseless accusations, Spectre!" The Ambassador waved a finger at Nihlus.

"Guys?" Ranma attempted again.

"I'd say Nihlus has hit the nail on the head." Saren added slyly. "Planning on creating an army of genetically enhanced soldiers, hmm?"

"Of course *you* would believe that." Udina quickly faced the older Spectre. "Your racism is showing, assuming such things without proof!"

"Guys!" Ranma growled as she became annoyed at constantly being ignored.

"Past encounters are all the proof I require." Saren growled threateningly. At the back of his mind, he was wondering why Ranma was still alive. Surely the Geth had gotten here by now. Where was it?

"WILL YOU LOT SHUT UP AND LET ME SAY SOMETHING!" Ranma suddenly bellowed in a voice that boomed unnaturally around the area. Nihlus, Saren, Anderson and Udina all felt the sudden paralyzing fear wash over themselves as Ranma projected her aura at them. The tiny girl suddenly seemed to loom dangerously over them, backlit by an eerie red glow.

Nihlus found every muscle in his body frozen by the strange sensation. No matter how much he strained he was unable to move. 'This...this power...it's terrifying.' he thought in awe as he realised Ranma was far more powerful than he had initially assumed. He could see Saren, across from him also standing ramrod straight in shock.

Saren's reaction to Ranma was intense. The moment he felt the aura of power wash over him, his heart had jumped into his throat. For a brief second he had thought Sovereign had seized his mind and ripped control of his body from him, but he quickly realised it wasn't the same pressure. It wasn't that ancient and alien feeling, but still it pressed down hard upon him, preventing him from moving. All he could do was, tremble slightly no matter how much he strained against the girl's presence in his head.

'This girl...she can't be!' he thought, terrified at the possibility that Sovereign had lied to him about being the only one of his kind in galactic space at that moment, but the sensation of being helpless to resist and knowing without a doubt he couldn't stop her from doing whatever she wished, was similar.

"Can I speak now?" Ranma asked as she calmly turned to the Council. As they hadn't had the technique directed at them they had only heard Ranma shout.

"Please do." The Asari councillor said wondering how Ranma had stopped the argument so thoroughly with only a shout and noting it on the computer.

"All my abilities are through hard work and training. My father taught me to fight since the day I could walk and if they," Ranma pointed between Udina and Anderson. "Want to know how my abilities work I could teach any of them...well, probably not him." Ranma indicated the extremely pale looking ambassador. "And I don't see the big deal they're making over this. There are loads of guys I know that can do the stuff I do. Not as good of course." she added with a cocky grin before she ceased projecting her aura at the two Spectres and the other two humans.

Nihlus blinked as he was able to move again. It took him by surprise and he wobbled unsteadily for a moment until he caught his balance. "W...what was that?" he asked unsteadily.

"Just a simple technique to cut off a person's ability to move by affecting their ki. It's not much use on someone whose been trained to resist it or has more ki than me. But you guys weren't listening...so you know." Ranma shrugged.

"That was intense..." Anderson remarked holding a hand to his brow. He was surprised to find he had broken out in a light sweat from whatever Ranma had done. The sudden sound of retching drew all their attentions to Udina, who was throwing up over the side of the balcony onto the glass below.

"Oops..." Ranma stated. "Forgot he wasn't a fighter."

A low hiss from Saren made them turn their attention towards the older Spectre.

"Saren?" Nihlus asked after taking his eyes off the ill looking ambassador. Saren had backed away from Ranma, his hands were shaking as he moved and his eyes were wide. He almost had the look of a cornered animal. "I..." Saren tried to reply but his voice caught in his throat as Ranma turned her eyes to regard him, once again coolly and without emotion. To Saren she seemed to be looking through him again with knowing eyes, as if she could see all his past wrongs. As if she knew his plans. He flinched as he backed into the balcony rail before forcing himself to calm down. "I'm not feeling...well. My implants are still new...Excuse me."

The Spectre quickly turned and stumbled away. He caught his balance quickly and moved off as fast as he dared. His teeth ached from clenching them tightly as he headed towards the exit, feeling as if she were watching him all the way with a cold gaze resting on the back of his neck.

He got into the lift and hit the button for down before falling back against the door and sliding down until he sat on the lift floor. "She...can't...be." Saren muttered as he rested a shaking hand against his forehead, covering his eyes.

"I'd never thought I'd see someone who could shake Saren." Anderson remarked in awe and with more than a little guilty pleasure as he didn't miss the ruthless Spectre's stumble when he moved off.

"Are you well Ambassador?" The Turian councillor asked, sounding more amused than concerned.

Udina looked pale and shaken as he leant bent over on the railing. He turned his head to the Council. "I...I'll be fine..." he stated weakly.

"Ranma Saotome. Please step forward." The Asari councillor spoke. Ranma turned back to the council and did as asked. She walked over to the end of the platform and waited for them to continue. "Although the Council has final say in matters that affect the stability of the galaxy, we try not to interfere with local government affairs and laws. As by your governments' laws you are still classed as a child, we feel it may be inappropriate to place you to into the Spectre candidacy program at this time."

"However," the Salarian councillor took over. "Turian military service begins at fifteen and Salarian even younger, although that is due to our biology. If you feel you are personally ready for such a challenge we would accept Nihlus's recommendations for you to begin tutelage under him."

"You're giving me a choice?" Ranma asked as she was surprised by that.

"Yes. We feel that if Nihlus has put such faith in you, then you would seem to be ready in his eyes, even at your young age for your species." The Asari councillor spoke again. Ranma glanced back towards Nihlus who faintly nodded in acknowledgement.

"Know this," the Turian councillor added as Ranma looked forward again. "This is an unusual situation. You would be representing your entire species and will be subject to as rigorous, if not more so than usual, examination of your skills due to your age...A heavy burden for someone so young. Think twice before accepting as it will not be easy."

To Ranma, the choice was simple. Refuse the training and she would be hounded by the military, not that she felt she couldn't stay out of their reach. After all, her father had been good at avoiding authorities and he had taught her.

Or, she could accept the offer of being evaluated for the Spectres and bypass the military grab. The biggest advantage she saw was that Nihlus was perfectly willing to allow her time and even help to get home and regain her manhood. There was also the ego boost from the fact that Nihlus stated the Spectres only accepted the very best...and it also gave her a chance to make sure Saren got what he deserved.

"Ranma. Please think about this." Anderson stepped closer. "Joining the Spectres would be throwing yourself in at the deep end. Even with Nihlus looking after you, you'd be sent on dangerous missions that could get you hurt. Or worse. You're still young. You have a plenty of time to join the Spectres at a later date. The Alliance wants to offer you protection, training and a good wage for all the advancements you could bring us."

"We...I wouldn't like to see your career or your life cut short." Anderson added quietly in hope to sway her decision.

Ranma mulled Anderson's words over as she looked over her shoulder to Nihlus.

"It's your decision." the Spectre said simply.

"Well, that's an easy one." Ranma said as she turned back to the Council. "I'll join as long as Nihlus is the one doing the training."

"Ranma! Please -" Anderson began to protest.

"Enough Captain!" Udina snapped, cutting Anderson off. "You've caused enough problems for me as is." The Ambassador looked like he was struggling to keep a calm and pleasant demeanour.

"Nihlus Kryik. Please step forward." The Asari councillor asked. Nihlus moved up beside Ranma on the platform as asked and stood tall and proud beside the martial artist. "The Council hereby formally accepts Nihlus Kryik's proposal to allow Ranma Saotome to be enrolled into the Spectre Candidacy Program."

"Ranma Saotome. This is neither a privilege nor an honour. It is an opportunity." The Salarian councillor spoke. "An opportunity to prove yourself as capable as Nihlus believes. It will not be easy."

"Nothing worthwhile is. I like the challenge." Ranma grinned.

"Wise words for someone so young." The Turian councillor added. "We'll see if Nihlus is right about you."

"The Council would like to add one more thing. Ranma Saotome, you claim your biotic-like abilities are through training which anyone can learn?"

"It's ki manipulation." Ranma replied with an annoyed tone. At all the blank expressions she sighed and added. "I can control my body's internal energies...and yeah, anyone could learn it. Mastering it? That's the hard part."

The Asari councillor looked thoughtful before she entered something into the computer, sending it to her colleges. The three quickly exchanged comments before coming to a decision. Once again the Asari spoke. "We propose an unusual situation. We would like to see this training in action and suggest that even while Nihlus teaches you how the Spectres operate, that you would also teach Nihlus this ki manipulation."

Ranma and Nihlus looked at each other, one up and one down. Ranma finally shrugged and they both turned back to face the Council.

"I can do that. Don't expect him to suddenly learn it though. It can take years." Ranma responded.

"That is fine." The Asari councillor remarked.

"Would the Ambassador like to add anything?" The Turian councillor said as if daring Udina to protest.

"Yes I would." Udina stated firmly. He stepped closer. "I would like to throw in a stipulation. After all she is a *human*."

"Very well. What is your proposal?" The Salarian asked in a tone that showed the Council had been expecting it.

"The Alliance will only back this situation if Nihlus," Udina said the name with minor distaste. "Will still continue to evaluate our own candidate as well. If this situation is too much for the Spectre, then we ask for another to continue the evaluation of our chosen candidate."

"That won't be necessary Ambassador. I have every intention of evaluating both your candidate and my own." Nihlus informed the room.

"Really? Are you *sure* you're up to the challenge of two evaluations and training at the same time?" Udina insinuated.

"I was led to believe your candidate is fully trained already. Or is that not the case? Ambassador." Nihlus replied smoothly.

"I was only worried you may have bitten off more than you can chew." Udina stated. He forced his annoyance at the Spectre from his face and tried his best to keep his voice level. He wasn't used to being out-manoeuvred politically by a combatant.

"The Council accepts the Ambassador's proposal. Nihlus will continue with the evaluations as he wishes. We look forward to your reports Nihlus. This meeting, is adjourned." The Asari councillor finished before the Council members walked away. The Council chamber erupted into low conversations as the unusual events of the meeting was over.

The four left standing on the platform slowly turned and wandered back.

"I don't blame you...but I hope you know what you're doing Nihlus." Captain Anderson stated in resignation.

"Captain, I have a feeling about Ranma." Nihlus proudly rested a hand on her shoulder as they stepped off the platform.

"Yes! And this damned feeling of yours throws everything into absolute chaos!" Udina snapped. "Do the words *political shit-storm* mean anything to you?"

Nihlus shrugged unconcerned. "That's why you're here Ambassador."

"Why thank you for reminding me of that fact you conveniently forgot just now." Udina stated through clenched teeth. "Anderson! I'll leave you to arrange transport back to Earth for them. I need to deal with the fallout." he turned to send one final glare at Nihlus. "I hope you're happy Spectre!"

Udina stormed off muttering under his breath.

"Wow. He needs to calm down before he hurts himself." Ranma stated.

"He's a politician." Anderson sighed as if that was all the explanation that was required. He turned towards the red-haired girl. "Ranma, I know I'm probably not your most favourite person right now...but why did you decide what you did? The Alliance is willing to look after your every need for the next few years."

Ranma stayed quiet for a moment before answering. "You know, people have been making decisions for me for as long as I can remember. Ranma you will marry this person. Or you will be dragged off to China. You will be a man among men. I'm sick of it. For once I got to make my own choice."

"And learning techniques from aliens? How can you resist that!" She added with a grin.

x-X-x

By the time the elevator reached the Presidium, Saren had recollected his composure. He strode out into the brightly lit area and turned to look back in the direction of Citadel Tower. His mandibles twitched in worry. To anyone passing the Turian appeared calm and collected, but internally he was a mess of terrified and guilty thoughts.

'That girl can't be the puppet of another Reaper. It's impossible. Sovereign wouldn't lie. He has no need to.'

'Are you so sure of that?' his doubt responded.

'Sovereign wouldn't lie to me. He needs me.' Saren repeated that thought to strengthen his resolve.

'Really?'

'Why would Sovereign lie?'

'Who says all the Reapers work together? Who says Sovereign is the most powerful...after all Sovereign was left behind wasn't he?' the incessant voice of his doubt kept nagging.

'I...no! Sovereign can't be wrong!'

'Is that your thought or Sovereign's?' his doubt pressed. 'You felt her power. She made you feel that same helplessness. How can you deny that?'

'I...' Saren couldn't find an answer.

'She knows what you're doing.' his guilt added. Saren clenched his fists tightly to stop himself fidgeting nervously at that thought.

'Why else would Sovereign want her eliminated?' his doubt continued.

'She sensed Sovereign. She knows our plans.' Saren stated.

'But how?'

'It doesn't matter. The Geth will eliminate her.'

'Oh? And why isn't she dead yet?' his doubt sounded smug. 'Why is C-Sec not swarming over Citadel Tower this very moment? Surely an assassination in front of the Council would be noticed.'

That was true Saren realised as he snapped back to reality. He also realised with a chill that he had been standing there arguing with himself for nearly five minutes. That wasn't a good sign. He growled low in the back of his throat in anger at himself. He knew he had to remain focused or Sovereign might consider him useless, and if that happened...he didn't want to think of the consequences.

He activated his communicator that linked him to the Geth. "Is it done?" Saren rumbled.

"Negative." was the robotic reply.

"What? Why are you waiting? Eliminate her."

"Mobile platform has ceased communications."

"How?" Saren fought to keep his voice level.

"Ambush." was the simple response that chilled Saren to the bone. No one could have known the Geth was there...unless...they were capable of reading minds or infiltrating the Geth consciousness. Saren quickly made his mind up over what his next course of action was.

"Cease the mission. We're returning to Sovereign. There have been unforeseen variables introduced." he almost snarled and closed the channel. He took one final look up at Citadel Tower and then briskly moved off, heading towards the docking bays. He needed to get out of there.

x-X-x

"It's like something from a film." Ranma exclaimed as she took in the sight of the large cruiser, the aptly named Tokyo, that she was going to ride home in. It sat docked inside one of the larger docking bays of the Citadel. The large craft had a long rectangular main body, painted white with a thick red strip along it. Two large cannons protrude out the front, one under the other. It also possessed two large wings, set underneath the main body and angled outwards.

Nihlus watched her bounce around like a child that had never seen a ship the size of a cruiser before with amusement in his eyes. It was almost refreshing to see someone act amazed by the sights he saw daily and reminded him of amazing engineering needed to get them to this point in time.

"Ranma, don't fall off the edge please." Nihlus called out unconcerned, as he was certain she wasn't going to fall, but he better make an attempt at being responsible. The pigtailed girl was now leaning out into the air at a forty-five degree angle, while she used her legs to anchor herself to the fence-like barrier that ran along the docking-bay edge.

"I won't!" she called back without taking her eyes from the ship.

"Nihlus..." Captain Anderson walked up behind the Spectre. "I don't want to tell you how to do your job...but shouldn't you be more worried over her?"

"Captain, if there's one thing about Ranma I've learnt its she hides her skills with a child-like attitude. She likes to appear as nonthreatening as possible."

"Still, she shouldn't be hanging over the railings." Anderson protested as he could already see the hell he would get from Udina if she died.

"Why?" Ranma asked from beside him.

"Sonofa!" Anderson jumped in surprise, as he hadn't noticed her sneak up on him. "Don't do that!"

"Do what?" Ranma asked as she looked up with large innocent eyes.

"That isn't going to work on me anymore missy." Anderson stated as he realised without a doubt Nihlus was right. Ranma was nothing she appeared at first glance.

"Neither is your nice-guy act going to work on me." Ranma stated as her eyes hardened. For a moment the Captain and her stared at each other.

"I deserve that. I guess." Anderson finally stated and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Don't worry, Captain. In a few years she might forgive you." Nihlus patted Anderson on the shoulder.

"Yes. Well. Shall we get going?" Anderson looked between the pair.

"By all means." Nihlus indicated for him to lead the way.

Anderson led them to the airlocks where they entered the ship. All the time Ranma studied the surroundings and asked the odd question about something. Once on board, Captain Anderson led them both up to the bridge where they met the Tokyo's captain.

"Captain Anderson. A pleasure to have you on board." Captain Nagano greeted them as they entered the bridge. He looked a little older than Anderson and had a faint scar across his left cheek. He and Anderson shook hands.

"Pleased to be here, Captain." Anderson replied and then indicated Nihlus and Ranma. "This is Nihlus Kryik, the Spectre that is accompanying us." Nihlus nodded faintly at the introduction. "And this is Ranma Saotome. She's our special guest."

"Yo." Ranma greeted without looking away from the various consoles.

"I've heard rumours. She's causing quite a stir from what I hear." Captain Nagano said conversationally.

"I'm going be a Martial Arts Spectre and kick ass." Ranma stated nonchalantly which earned her a light rap across the top of her head from Nihlus.

"Ow. What was that for?" Ranma asked rubbing her head pretending it had hurt.

"You shouldn't just blurt things like that out." Nihlus shook his head only slightly amused.

"Feh. Not like it matters right? Pretty much everyone saw that meeting." Ranma stated.

"True. Nevertheless, we should let potential enemies know as little about us as possible unless we wish the information leaked. I will be remembering this when I make my reports and recommendations."

"Oh. No problem." Ranma nodded. "I'll be remembering all these little taps too when I start your training." she grinned evilly. Nihlus suddenly wasn't so sure whether the training he had agreed to go through was such a good idea after all.

"So!" Ranma said loudly. "How long to get back to Earth?"

"Not long. We'll leave dock in a few minutes then it's a short trip to the mass relay." Captain Nagano explained. "From there we'll jump to the Charon relay in the local system. To go from Charon to Earth takes between five and seven hours at FTL speeds, depending on Pluto's current orbit relative to Earth's."

"Ah I see." Ranma nodded sagely. "So how long?"

"Err..." Captain Nagano wasn't quite sure what to say.

"Five to seven hours Ranma." Captain Anderson explained.

"Really? I thought Nihlus said we're millions of light-years away from Earth?" Ranma tried to puzzle that out.

"Oh. You don't know how the relays work, do you." Anderson stated. Ranma shook her head.

"The mass relays are a relic from the Protheans, a space-faring race that vanished over fifty thousand years ago." Nihlus explained. "The relays allow almost instantaneous travel between galaxies so the only time will be the travel between the Citadel to the local relay and then from relay Charon to Earth."

"That quick?" Ranma blinked. "Wow. So why don't they build the elevators out of relays?"

"Err...well...it's not exactly safe to use a mass effect to warp a person around." Nihlus stated.

"So Ranma, would you like something to eat or I could show you to your cabin?" Anderson asked.

"Food sounds perfect." Ranma beamed.

x-X-x

The mass relay located in the Sentry Omega cluster continued to rotate and pulse continuously as it had done for untold millennium while it orbited the local star. There was no warning as one moment there was nothing there. Then the next, a small Turian frigate warped into view nearby the relay. As soon as it cleared the relay's field of effect, the frigate's FTL drive kicked in with a flare of power and propelled it across the blackness of space.

Inside, Saren sat and held his head in his hands, deep in thought as the Geth pilot controlled the ship with the skill only a machine possessed. The Geth made a series of clicking noises as it constantly communicated its thoughts back to the other Geth that followed Saren. The pilot transmitted a message to Saren.

"Good. Bring us in quickly." Saren replied as he looked up at the pilot. Then he turned his eyes to look out the view port as the ship came out of FTL speeds and slowed down further as the massive bulk of Sovereign appeared before them. Sovereign dwarfed the frigate and even from a distance just inspired awe by his shear overbearing size. The two kilometre long living craft almost resembled a squid. Red lightening crackled randomly around the outside shell of the Reaper, an indication of the incredible amount of power Sovereign possessed to keep itself in a stable position, neither affected by the gravitation pull of the local star nor any of the planets that orbited close by while he waited for Saren to return.

Saren often wondered just how Sovereign generated the immense amounts of energy needed to use the massive mass effect core of his. Saren had had his Geth search the entire length and breadth of Sovereign to map the internal structures and find the monster's power core. Sovereign must have found his efforts amusing as the maps generated often proved useless as the internal structures and passageways would often change, sometimes behind you as you walked. It had soon become apparent to Saren that Sovereign was impossible to map, and the power core, wherever it was located would remain undiscovered while Sovereign wished it so.

As they drew alongside the Reaper, Saren could feel Sovereign's alien presence. Like a constant pressure at the back of his mind and for a moment it almost felt like the monster was welcoming him back, eager to discover what news he brought. Saren felt his stomach sink at the thought of what he had to explain. How did you tell something that could crush your mind and leave you a mindless husk that you had failed?

"Bring us into dock." Saren informed the Geth pilot as he calmed himself as best he could. Like when facing down a powerful animal, he had to show no fear. He got to his feet and walked out of the cockpit and to the airlock where he waited. The ship shuddered as something took hold of it as it slowed down enough to dock. A few minutes went by as the internal and external pressures were equalised and then the outer airlock door opened.

Saren stepped out and onto the platform that Sovereign had allowed to be constructed inside him for his organic followers to use. All along the walkway, the internal corded structure of Sovereign stretched and curved up and down like metallic cords of muscle. Appendages lined the walls, looking like metal crab legs. They remained completely still and yet, they would often seem to move if you caught them from the corner of your eye.

Even the walls themselves felt as if they were pressing down at you from strange angles or pulsed with a heartbeat you could neither see, nor feel, but were sure it was there. Strange noises, like nails down a blackboard, metals rubbing together or being dropped echoed around and it was impossible to track down their origin for how the acoustics distorted them. They could be at the entire other end of Sovereign for all you knew.

The air was still and musty, and a strange haze hung around the walls, almost a mist but if you got close, there wasn't anything there. Lights would appear at random, floating across the walkways or inside the very walls, floating dots of energy that made you think of ethereal spirits haunting the corridors and watching you with ancient, unseen eyes. Many times Saren had felt as if something was breathing down the back of his neck as he walked the darkened hallways inside the belly of the beast.

As he moved down the walkway, he spotted Benezia waiting patiently at the end. The tall Asari matriarch stood at ease, dressed in her long black dress and headpiece. The nearly one thousand year old alien was an extremely powerful ally, one Saren had convinced Sovereign the he needed to help find the conduit.

'You stand there unknowing what you are doing anymore is not your will.' Saren thought darkly as he approached. 'Your thoughts are no longer your own, and it is only because of me that you are not a mindless husk like so many others.'

He breezed by her without a word and she turned to follow him, not in the least concerned by his lack of greeting.

"You've returned sooner than expected. Did you find what you were seeking?" she asked keeping pace with the long strides of the Spectre while making it look like she effortlessly glided along.

Saren almost didn't bother replying. "No. There were unforeseen complications." he stated in a low growl. Sovereign seemed to respond to Saren's mood as the lighting in the corridor darkened and grew tinged with a ghostly redness.

"Will this cause us a problem in finding the conduit?" Benezia asked, not missing the way the monstrous ship responded to Saren.

Saren halted abruptly and Benezia quickly ceased her forward motion smoothly as he rounded on her with an angry and wild look on his face. For a moment she was sure he was going to try attacking her but he reigned himself in.

"No!" he snapped before taking a deep breath. "Maybe...I don't yet! But I will find out shortly. Leave me for now!" he demanded. Benezia gave a small nod of her head in acknowledgement and then turned to walk away, heading back to her room to meditate.

Saren watched her leave while he rubbed at the point his mandibles connected to his skull, a gesture similar to a human rubbing their temples.

"Saren." the voice of Sovereign reverberated through his mind as the Reaper called upon him. The Turian turned and quickly headed deeper into the Reaper. Soon he arrived at the area that served as the current 'bridge'. It was vaguely circular and placed in the centre was a seat. Behind Saren, the metal walls shifted, moving like closing curtains to seal the area off. The room darkened.

"I have returned Sovereign." Saren stated, speaking to the room.

"You, return without completing the tasks we set." Sovereign's inorganic voice rumbled and hissed, both high and low at the same time and reverberated around the room. Or maybe just Saren's own head. He could never tell if Sovereign was speaking aloud or not.

"There were complications -"

"Excuses are intolerable." Sovereign punctuated that remark with a further darkening of the room and a crackle of red energy that arced and sparked around it. "Your continued existence is only ensured because I require an organic with your skills. My existence must not be discovered. You claim to be capable and you fail me in this task."

"And you claimed to be omnipotent and the only Reaper not in dark space!" Saren snarled back. "Explain why that human could sense you? And how did she know my plans if she was not a puppet of your kind? Or are you playing a game with me?"

"My kind does not play games."

"So you lied about being alone!" Saren accused.

"I do not lie."

"Then what is she if not a puppet of your kind? What did she mean by my ki was twisted by you? How does she know you?" Saren asked. He had to blink in surprise, when Sovereign's presence seemed to fade from the room. He waited for a moment for Sovereign to continue, but he remained silent. Slowly, with growing nervousness at the sudden change in Sovereign's demeanour, Saren spun around the room seeking some indication of Sovereign.

'What's going on?' Saren thought in surprise as he nervously realised he was trapped in the sealed room unless Sovereign let him out.

"Sovereign? Answer me!" Saren attempted communication. There was no reply and slowly he began reaching for his weapons. A feeling of doom had settled upon him as he suspected he may have pushed the Reaper too hard and it was now going to seal him in this room to starve to death.

"So." Sovereign's voice startled Saren enough that he felt he had almost leapt out of his own skin as it boomed around the area. "Another species has arisen with such an ability."

"What? What ability? What do you mean?" Saren asked after forcing himself to remain calm.

"I have accessed human data streams and translated the meaning behind that word. Ki. Human's use it to indicate spirit, internal energies, life force. Soul. My kind, recognise it as the energy of your lives, an almost infinite resource if manipulated and collected properly."

'Infinite resource?' Saren frowned. "What does this mean?"

"These humans. They may be more dangerous than you can imagine possible."

"What?" Saren stared up as the ceiling rolled with a storm of energy. "They're dangerous to you?"

"Not to me." Sovereign stated. The Reaper may have been scoffing at the very idea, but it was hard to tell with the emotionless tone he spoke with. "But to our plans."

"Then I'll make sure to eliminate her myself." Saren stated.

"No." It was the simple rebuke, but something in the way Sovereign spoke made Saren swallowed by nervous reflex. "She may be as far beyond you as I am beyond her." Saren's eyes narrowed at that proclamation. "You will be unable to defeat her. As you are."

"Then..." Saren's tactical mind went through a series of ideas. He knew Nihlus was heading to Earth at some-point soon. "The girl will no doubt at some point be transferred back to earth. She'll go wherever Nihlus goes. We could ambush the ship as it comes out of the relay. With your power they wouldn't know what hit them."

"No. I cannot allow my presence to be revealed. Until our numbers darken the sky of every world the risk of alerting and unifying all races against me is unacceptable."

"Do you want me to just ignore her? Even though she knows you exist?" Saren asked. Sovereign once again went quiet as if thinking deeply. "Sovereign! Tell me what you want me to do!" Saren called out as the building sense of doom grew.

The answering noise was not one he wished to hear. A low, dry, raspy moan reached his ears and caused him to spin towards the sound. Saren's eyes widened in fear as he saw the emaciated husks of former living beings were literally crawling out of the walls all around him. They fell limply to the ground or struggled to climb out of the floor. Glowing electric-blue wiring spread throughout their bodies and culminated in their eye sockets to replace their former eyes.

"Sovereign!" Saren shouted as he spun in a circle and realised he was surrounded by the growing horde of zombie-like cyborgs. The groans grew louder as they all as one fixed their empty stares on the Spectre. "No! I won't go out like this! You can't do this to me!" Saren exploded in anger born from fear.

He whipped his weapons out and fired point-blank into the nearest husk's face, blowing the dead thing's head apart. Like the shrieks of the damned, the noise grew louder and the husks moved in towards Saren. He saw no way out and began fighting like a cornered animal.

He dodged out of the way as one dived for him. As it passed by him, he smashed the butt of his pistol against the back of its skull, slamming it into the deck. He began to fire seemingly wildly into the horde, but each shot hit a target. The shots merely slowed down the husks' approach, or made them stumble back. If one fell, another took its place as they closed in on the panicking Turian in an ever-tightening circle.

As if they had all been instructed, the horde suddenly surged forward. They grabbed his arms and legs. Dived on his back and dragged him to the floor under their combined weight.

"No! I've been loyal!" Saren cried in fear as they pressed down on him, holding him in place.

Red lightening and energy began to crackle around the room, arcing from wall to wall. Then suddenly it leapt to the nearest husk, which gave an unholy shriek as it lifted into the air, held by unseen hands. The energy swelled and poured into the husk, blackening the dried skin and shredding any remain organs until it exploded outwards.

The husk then dropped back to floor where it stood up straight and whipped its head towards Saren. Red lightening continued to crackle around what was nearly only a walking skeleton, coming from the crackling ball of energy that sat in its chest. Its eyes glowed with the same power as it spoke in Sovereign's voice.

"Saren. You will be my instrument to ensure this human is eliminated before it can become a threat."

"What?" Saren exclaimed in horror, seconds before the collective husks dragged him to his feet and held him still as the Sovereign-husk moved closer. It held a hand out as the energy inside its ribcage travelled down the arm and amassed into its palm.

"I will grant you the knowledge and power to destroy her." Sovereign-husk explained as it strode over to the restrained Turian. Saren found himself unable to take his eyes from the energy Sovereign-husk held in his palm and every step the monster took closer made Saren regret everything he had done to end up at this point. Sovereign-husk stopped just before him and held the energy just above Saren's breastbone. Even through his armour, he could feel the energy pulsing like a heartbeat.

"You will know pain, Saren." Sovereign-husk stated as it thrust the energy into Saren's chest and all the Spectre could do was roar in agony as all-consuming pain ripped through him.

x-X-x

Benezia's meditation was interrupted by the most agonised howl of pain she had ever heard. It echoed ghost-like around the room from somewhere deep within the ship. Her eyes snapped open with the knowledge that something terrible had just occurred somewhere. That scream had chilled her to the bone for she recognised the voice.

"Saren." she whispered to herself.

It was then that she suddenly felt as if another person was in the room with her. It gave her goosebumps as the malevolent, ancient and alien feeling grew. It felt similar to the feeling that the entire ship gave off, but far, far stronger.

"Who's there?" she called out as she climbed to her feet and gathered herself, getting ready to fight whatever was in the room with her. She saw nothing, but the feeling of being trapped in a darkened room with something that wished you harm was undeniable. Her instincts screamed to run.

"I warn you. You face an Asari Matriarch." she stated as biotic energy began rolling off her, giving her a blueish-purple glowing aura of power.

"Benezia." the powerful voice startled her as it bounced off all the walls, floor and ceiling. In all her years, nothing had made her feel fear as she suddenly did. Keeping her features calm, she slowly spun around the room, seeking the source of that voice.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" she demanded not seeing anything.

"I am Sovereign. I am all around you."

"Sovereign?" Benezia stated in confusion. "The...ship?" She continued to turn around looking at the walls and up at the ceiling. Red energy crackled around the room once and pulsed as the voice answered once more.

"Correct."

Benezia's eyes widened in surprise. "Sovereign...Sovereign isn't a Reaper ship...you are a Reaper!"

"Reaper. A functional contrivance the Protheans used to give voice to their destruction. What you choose to call us is irrelevant. We simply. Are."

Benezia quickly concluded that something had happened to Saren and now the Reaper Sovereign was showing itself to her for a reason.

"How do I serve you Sovereign." she responded smoothly, feeling without a doubt this was her only path.

"Saren will become unreliable to me in time. He will continue his work. For now. When the time comes, he must be removed and you will assume his duties."

"Very well Sovereign." Benezia replied. The presence then receded to the levels she was familiar with. The new knowledge should have scared her if not for the fact Sovereign had long ago turned her to his will.

x-X-x

Nihlus dozed quietly in that zone just between sleep and wakefulness, something he had learnt to do during a mission that turned into a fight for survival where catching a proper sleep may have been deadly. Ever since those two weeks spent hiding in the wilderness playing a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with a powerful Asari Matriarch determined to kill him, it had become something of a habit.

His communicator beeped. It was enough to bring him out of the restful state and wide awake. He reached his earpiece and activated it.

"Nihlus here."

"Nihlus." It was Captain Anderson. "We're just beginning docking with L5 Station Gateway."

"Excellent. I'll be down there soon with Ranma. Nihlus out." Nihlus responded and closed the communications channel. He swung his legs over the edge of the top bunk and hopped down to floor. Turning around he checked to see if Ranma was still in the bottom bunk, even though he had not heard her get up. He was amused to see she lay strewn around, one leg and arm sticking out from the thin cover and snoring lightly.

"Ranma. We're here." Nihlus gently shook her and was rewarded by her turning away from him and simultaneously lightly backhanding him in the face.

"G'way Pops..." Ranma mumbled as Nihlus rubbed his bony face-plates. The blow had startled him more than hurt.

"Okay Ranma. You've had your fun. Time to get up." Nihlus stated. She remained as she lay, quietly snoozing. Nihlus frowned at the sleeping girl, as if he suspected her to be playing a prank on him. He decided to forgo tact and made a grab for her pigtail, intending to tug it lightly. Ranma flipped her head the other way, pulling her pigtail away from his fingers just as they closed into a fist.

Nihlus's eyes widened slightly and his mandibles twitched in annoyance. "Ranma!" he snapped. She just muttered something about ten minutes and ignored him. Growing annoyed that she was ignoring him; Nihlus tried poking her shoulder with a claw. Just before his finger touched her bare shoulder, she rolled further to the side and he missed, overstepped and put his clawed finger through the bottom mattress.

Nihlus yanked his finger back in surprise and for a moment stood staring at the sleeping girl incredulously. He leaned over her and listened to her breathing and heartbeat. Both seemed to indicate she was actually asleep. Leaning back on his haunches the Spectre tried to poke her again. Again, she dodged instinctively.

"That's crazy." Nihlus muttered. "She's either playing me for a fool or somehow can dodge attacks in her sleep. And I thought I was good at being aware while resting."

"Okay Ranma, dodge this." he stated with amusement in his voice and grabbed the mattress. Nihlus sprung to his feet lifting one side of the mattress up and tossing the girl off the bed.

"Wah!" Ranma exclaimed loudly as the violent thud of landing onto cool metal decking woke her up. "What did ya do that for Pops! Huh?" she blinked in confusion for a moment at the weird surroundings.

"Glad to see sleeping beauty has finally awoken." Nihlus's head poked over the mattress edge as he lowered it to his chest. He appeared to be grinning even though it was hard to tell with a Turian.

"Nihlus...wow, not a dream then." Ranma stated as she looked up at the Spectre.

"Get dressed. We're here. We'll be ready to ride the shuttle down to Earth soon." Nihlus informed her as he dropped the mattress back to the bunk.

"I'm home?" Ranma bounced to her feet and rushed over to grab the shirt and pants she'd gotten from that store on the Citadel. She pulled them on hastily. "Let's go!"

Nihlus and Ranma exited the room and headed through the ship towards the airlock. Captain Anderson was waiting for them. He nodded in greeting.

"Did you enjoy the trip Ranma?" Anderson asked, trying to keep things pleasant between the three of them.

"It was okay, the landing was bumpy." Ranma stated and eyed Nihlus.

"Something I'm missing?" Anderson asked looking between the pair.

"I'll tell you later." Nihlus promised. "But for now, I think Ranma's looking forward to just getting home."

"You bet I am." Ranma grinned.

Upon exiting the airlock, they were greeted by a stern looking older man. He appeared to be around sixty and had the type of face that could be either friendly or scary, depending on how well you knew him. He wore a suit much like Captain Anderson's but with a different pattern. Unlike Anderson he also wore a cap. His dark eyes watched them approach with interest, particularly taking time to study Ranma.

"Admiral Hackett. Captain Anderson reporting in." Anderson saluted the Admiral as they stopped before him.

"Captain Anderson. A pleasure to see you return safe and sound." Admiral Hackett spoke with a friendly baritone as he returned the greeting. "Nihlus Kryik. A pleasure." he held his hand out to Nihlus who took it and they shook hands.

"Pleasure's all mine. I've been looking forward to meeting your candidate for a while now." Nihlus said.

"Speaking of candidates." Hackett turned his eyes towards Ranma. "You've really managed to put the cat among the pigeons."

"As I've explained before, Ranma here caught my eye." Nihlus explained while he noted Ranma shudder for some reason.

"I understand perfectly." Hackett nodded. "Although many don't. Can't say I blame them, but it's short-sighted to doubt a Spectre who has gone out of his way to set us up with this chance and even going so far as finding his own surprise human candidate. I'll do my best to keep the politician's off your back so you can get on with your job."

"That's pleasing to hear. I thought I may have had to defend my decision with every human leader." Nihlus stated sounding relieved.

"I'm a practical man. I know things never run one hundred percent according to plan." Hackett then took a small badge from his pocket and offered it to Ranma. Ranma took the badge and turned it over to study it. It was the letter "N" and the number zero.

"What's this?" Ranma asked.

"That's your official Systems Alliance badge." Hackett stated and continued to explain, as Ranma looked confused. "We can't just have a nobody join the most prestigious fighting force in the galaxy now can we. Congratulations and welcome to the Alliance Special Lieutenant N Zero, Ranma Saotome. I'm looking forward to seeing you achieve a N7 rank in future."

"Erm...thanks...I guess." Ranma replied not sure if this was a good thing or not.

"Rank zero, Admiral?" Anderson queried.

"Yes Zero. The ranks are usually one through seven, but Ranma is a special case. We just don't know where to really put her until she earns either the Spectre rank or an Alliance one. So the decision was to create a one-off temporary rank for her."

"So where's the shuttle? I bet they're cool to ride!" Ranma asked looking around the massive bay. She sought out one of the NASA space shuttles she had seen before on the news.

"Captain. I'll leave you to handle getting her home, registered and settled in." Admiral Hackett commanded. "The JSDF are eager to meet the girl the Spectres are assessing. Not to mention rubbing it in our faces." he added without any bitterness and a shrug. "How soon do you estimate before we can expect you to begin assessing out candidate?" he addressed Nihlus.

"Depends on how long it takes to help Ranma deal with her problem." Nihlus responded.

"I...see." Admiral Hackett replied. "Please don't take too long, the Normandy's shakedown run is planned for in a little under a month's time."

"It won't take a month." Ranma stated firmly.

"That's good to hear. Well, I'll leave the rest to the Captain. Good day."

"Would you like to have a look around or just head down to Earth?" Captain Anderson turned to Ranma as the Admiral walked off.

"Home. Definitely home."

"Then follow me." Anderson turned and led them along the busy walkways. The station's staff moved constantly around the platforms as the docked ships were loaded or unloaded, refuelled and repaired. Soon they stood before a squarish looking craft big enough for four people to sit in minus the pilot. Ranma stared at it with raised eyebrows.

"What's this?" she pointed as Anderson pulled open the door which raised up.

"This is the shuttle down to Earth." he replied.

"This...thing?" Ranma looked disappointed as she studied the boring looking craft. "Look nothing like the one on TV." she grumbled quietly.

"Come on Ranma." Nihlus climbed in and sat down. Ranma sighed in disappointment but followed the Turian and sat opposite him. She stared out the window. The Captain climbed in last pulled the doors shut. They clicked shut and then the seals pressurised sealing the craft so it was airtight.

"We're ready to leave." Anderson spoke into the small communication panel to the pilot. There soon was a hum as the mass effect drive activated and altered the small shuttle's mass. It rose smoothly from the dock and then moved carefully alongside the walkway. The shuttle passed through the barrier that held the air inside the bay and exited into space.

"Oh wow!" Ranma suddenly exclaimed in awe as she saw the blue, green, browns and whites of earth below. She soon had her face and hands plastered to the window so she could watch their approach. Anderson and Nihlus both were amused at her enrapture.

Soon they entered the upper atmosphere. White, bright clouds billowed past the window, blocking the view for a moment until they burst out from the underside of the clouds and the land below came into view.

Ranma watched with awe as they flew high over the oceans, rapidly descending closer to the sparkling blue water. The sunlight reflected off the waves as they passed by overhead. Soon she could see the unfamiliar towers of future Tokyo speeding towards them. With the advancement in materials and mass effect fields, use of land was much easier. The towers were easier to build and much more resistant to earthquakes, capable of withstanding ones that would have flattened similar sized structures even fifty years ago. Land that was once taken up with highways was no longer needed as the cars flew. Ranma stared in growing surprise when she saw this.

"Erm...is this America or something?" Ranma asked looking back to Anderson.

"No. We're heading to Tokyo." Anderson replied.

"Are you sure? I don't remember it looking like this..." Ranma frowned as a bad feeling began to settle in her stomach.

"Have you ever approached from orbit before?" Nihlus questioned the redhead.

"Ah...actually...sort of...just it's...it sure is different this way." Ranma slowly replied, not sounding too convinced. Nihlus could see the worry that had appeared on her face. He took note of the fact.

For the rest of the journey until the shuttle set itself down in the landing area of the JSDF base on the edge of the shipping lanes, Ranma remained quiet, silently worrying over the feeling that she wasn't where everyone claimed she was. She was certain Tokyo couldn't have changed so much over the course of a few days.

When they stepped out of the shuttle, they had been greeted by some other admiral guy, who Ranma hadn't bothered listening to with being too worried over the subtle and not so subtle differences to the city she knew. He had tried many times to fuss over and compliment her only to be ignored, until he gave up trying to butter her up and just grudgingly led them to get Ranma registered.

"Let's just get this done shall we?" Anderson queried as the admiral left without a word. He sounded unsure due to the way Ranma had begun acting once they had came into sight of Tokyo.

"Fine. I need to get home soon." Ranma said finally turning her attention back to the present.

"What's the address and I'll get a driver ready to take us there." Anderson asked.

"The Tendo dojo, Nerima." Ranma replied and Anderson tapped that into his computer.

"If you would sit here and fill in the details when prompted." Anderson then led Ranma to a chair and terminal. She sat down while he tapped in a series of codes.

"Welcome to Alliance Military database. Classified information requested." a female voice stated as the screen flashed a big red warning. "Establishing a secure connection. Secure connection confirmed. Please enter your name to create your profile."

An on-screen keyboard popped up and Ranma shrugged before typing her name.

"Please enter your data of birth." the voice asked.

Ranma typed in March, 18, 1971 and went to hit the enter key when Anderson stopped her.

"Ranma...I think you've hit the wrong numbers."

"Huh?" Ranma double checked the numbers on screen and turned back to Anderson. "No I haven't."

Nihlus placed his hand on the back of the chair she sat in and leaned close to stare at the screen. He and Anderson looked at each other with confusion on their faces.

"What?" Ranma asked not missing the worried exchange.

"Ranma there's no way that's right." Anderson said. "Please stop messing around and enter it correctly."

"What? I have!" Ranma glared back at the Captain. "That's when I was born! I think I'd remember that!"

"Ranma!" Anderson snapped in annoyance.

"Calm down Captain," Nihlus grabbed Anderson's shoulder. "Ranma, the Captain's right. That date is impossible. You'd be over two hundred years old if that was true."

Ranma took a moment to look at the screen and then slowly she turned back to Nihlus. "What year is it then?" she asked in the empty tone of someone expecting the worst as their fears had been confirmed.

"It's 2183." Anderson stated. "How can you not know that?"

Ranma turned away from them and went silent. Various emotions went through her as she tried to figure out who was wrong. She couldn't be wrong. She knew when she had been born and she knew it certainly hadn't been 2183 before she woke up on the Citadel. Ranma quickly decided she needed to find out the truth.

Ranma climbed to her feet and turned to face Anderson and Nihlus. "I'm going home."

"Ranma-"

"Now!" she snapped. "I ain't got time for this."

"Now just-" Anderson went to say but was forced to break off when Ranma raised her hand and casually blasted the windows out with a ki blast. Anderson and Nihlus both covered their faces as glass sprayed everywhere from the high winds blowing the tiny fragments of glass back into the room. While they were doing this, Ranma took a run and dived out the now missing windows.

"Ranma!" Nihlus shouted as he rushed after her. He grabbed the window frame and stared down in horror expecting to see the girl's broken body bouncing off the tent shaped tower they were in. He was shocked to see her actually running down the outside curve of the building until she hit the edge. She then leapt off it, free falling a good five stories, followed by a quick flip to bring her feet underneath herself and landed heavily on a parked vehicle, which folded under the impact. Military personnel began shouting in surprise at the sudden and violent destruction. Ranma was then seen leaping off the wreckage and raced down the forecourt of the base. She leapt over the high fence topped with razor-wire in a single bound and vanished into the city beyond.

"What just happened?" Anderson gaped down the tower not believing what he had just witnessed.

"I think...she just freaked." Nihlus muttered. "Not good." the Spectre turned and rushed off. Anderson gave chase seconds behind.

x-X-x

Ranma raced down the streets, following the signs towards the Nerima ward. She drew stares and surprised comments as she ran and jumped through the streets, over parked cars and along walls not slowing down for a second.

She tried not to think about being lost in some future time. She wanted to believe it was impossible but all the weird and wonderful things that had occurred to her in her life left her open to the idea.

At the speeds she was travelling, it didn't take her long to enter the Nerima ward and suddenly with a sinking feeling she began to recognise certain features. The layout of the streets appeared familiar but the buildings themselves were not. The tall towers were definitely not the same buildings she had been used to. The streets were narrower as they were built only for pedestrians.

'If I'm right the Cat Cafe should be here.' Ranma thought as she skidded to a halt. She looked around at the almost empty parking lot that sat where the Old Ghoul's cafe should have stood. For a moment she stared dumbfounded before shaking her head in denial.

"No. No. No. I've got to be wrong. I...have to be."

Ranma took off again racing down the streets towards where Ukyo's restaurant should be. The building she found was completely different and sold clothing. Ranma was slowly reaching towards panic. She raced off again to find the Tendo's with fear hurrying her. She passed the canals, they were still there, but in her panic she didn't bother to scale the fence that ran along the side.

Ranma skidded into the street the Tendo's lived. She ran down road that looked very much the same as it had been until she stopped outside the large gates of the Tendo's home. Ranma felt a rush of happiness to find the gates were as she remembered.

"Hahahah!" Ranma laughed breathlessly. "I must have come in the wrong way. Yeah, that's it!" she proclaimed before bounding over the gates.

Landing just inside the gates, Ranma was relieved to see everything looked exactly how she remembered it. She bounded happily up the path to the main house and tried the door. It was locked which made her pause in thought for a second.

"Hmm?" Ranma backup up and glanced around until she spotted the window to her own room was slightly open. She jumped up to the roof, pulled the window fully open, and climbed in. The room looked as she remembered it but there was no futons on the floor, no sign of her or her father's stuff. Ranma crossed the room and slid the door open.

"Kasumi! Nabiki! Akane!" Ranma called out as she pulled open each door to find the rooms empty of everything, including furniture. Ranma soon found her hands shaking when Akane's room was revealed to be empty as well.

"What's going on here?" a male voice demanded behind Ranma. She spun quickly and grabbed the person, whose voice she did not recognise and pushed the man out into the hall and slammed him against the wall.

"Who the heck are you and what are you doing in the Tendo's home?" Ranma growled threateningly as she lifted the man who looked terrified off the floor.

"I-I'm the c-caretaker!" the man panicked at the inhuman strength the short girl was displaying. "I work here."

"Liar! Where are the Tendos?"

"Who?"

"The people who own this house!" Ranma leaned closer.

"I don't know what you're talking about! The dojo is a registered building. It's meant to be a museum to Japan's martial arts heritage. I don't know any Tendos. I just work here. Please...just let me go."

"That's..." Ranma stared in horror as she couldn't believe it. "Who...who owns this building then?"

"I don't really know. The government I guess. Or maybe Cord-Hislop Aerospace, they sponsor the heritage museum quite a bit." the man answered.

For a moment, Ranma continued to hold him against the wall until with a scared realisation that he was telling the truth she dropped him to the floor. "I'm...I'm sorry. I'll be going." Ranma apologised. She quickly went back down to what had been her room, climbed out the window and jumped down to the ground. Then she walked slowly down the path and exited the compound through the main gate.

Ranma took a deep breath as she tried to think what her next move was. There was only one thing she could try that would completely confirm her fears. If she were nearly two hundred years into the future...she would be able to find her grave.

x-X-x

Ranma stopped outside the tall gates of the cemetery she had been directed to by the VI, much like Avina but with a human female image, on the street. The gates were open and there were a few people going in and coming out. Cars sat parked along the outside wall.

Ranma took a calming breath and walked through the gates. Inside the path led down and broke off at rows. The carefully constructed markers stood close to one another, roughly shoulder width apart. Various flowers covered some of the grave, placed there by relatives of the deceased. The air was crisp and clear and the cemetery had the quite respectful atmosphere you would expect.

Avoiding the few people paying their respects, Ranma slowly wandered up and down the rows of the graveyard, quietly seeking the Saotome's family plot. She wouldn't admit to anyone that she felt a knot of fear in her chest, but it was there. The deeper in she walked, the more she became afraid of what she would find.

Ranma soon found the row she had been seeking. She walked along, slowing down further as she read the names on the small screens set into the stones. They stood out to her, looking out of place set back into the old grave-markers compared to the more modern ones near the entrance.

A tall, foreign man dressed in an expensive and immaculately pressed suit glanced towards her with piercing blue eyes as she passed him by. She wondered why he was there for a moment but soon forgot all about him as her eyes finally picked out the marker she was dreading finding.

The stone was worn and neglected. It looked as if it had remained unvisited and uncared for decades. The only reason it was tidy was due to the groundskeeper looking after the area. Ranma came to a standstill and nervously fidgeting before the marker. She stared down at the old stone. The small screen, which had been added at a later date, remained dark.

She licked her lips nervously as she reached out to touch the screen, guessing from all the other technology she had witnessed recently that it would activate on touch. She was right. As her fingers touched the smooth, cold glass, the screen lit up with a list of names and dates.

The first few names she didn't know and tapped the screen again causing it to change to a newer list. She tapped it again. This time the screen also showed a picture of an old lady, but Ranma still recognised her. Nodoka Saotome, 1950-2033. Beside it was Genma Soatome, 1949-2025.

Ranma's throat constricted as her fingers hovered above the screen, almost unwilling to touch it again for fear of what it would reveal. She remained like that, unmoving, unthinking, until a cool breeze snapped her back to reality by blowing her pigtail around like a kite.

'Just do it.' Ranma told herself in annoyance before she tapped the screen a final time. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw an older Akane smiling out. Akane Saotome, 1971-2010.

"No...It's not real...I can't have..." Ranma whispered with a growing feeling of dread that what she had been denying all this time was true after all. Beside Akane's picture was her own, looking to be around his fifties and it froze her colder than the soul-of-ice technique. Ranma Saotome, 1971-2133.

Suddenly everything she had feared rose up and slammed into her. The full-force of the realisation that she really was in the future, alone and without any means of getting home made her knees weak and she slowly sank to the ground until she was kneeling in shock with her forehead pressed against the cold stone.

She wasn't sure how long she remained like that. It was one of those times when her mind refused to think. Everything shut down and went blank.

"Are you alright miss?" an accented male voice asked as a warm hand rested gently on her shoulder.

Ranma slowly turned her head to look up towards the voice. It was the foreigner she had passed earlier. He looked down at her with a caring expression in his strange blue eyes that had a weird and hard to see glow in the light of the day.

"Do you need assistance?" he spoke again when she didn't respond.

"No." Ranma finally snapped out of her state of blankness and shrugged his hand off her shoulder. "I'm fine." she lied as she pushed herself back to her feet, not wanting to show any further signs of weakness.

"You're certain? It's just the with way you went down was so suddenly...it was worrying." the man continued. "If you'd like, I could call someone."

"No. I'm fine." Ranma stated firmly as she watched him warily. She was still surprised and a little annoyed by how out of it she had been with the way he had managed to catch her off-guard. She could almost hear her father's voice berating her for missing his presence.

"Not to pry...but was it recently? Your loss?"

"Huh?" Ranma blinked for a moment before she figured out what the man was asking. "Ah...no. Not recently...it's not that anyway."

"Oh."

"Anyway, what're you doing here? You're a foreigner ain't cha?" Ranma asked with the Saotome bluntness.

The man chuckled. "Actually my mother was Japanese. I'm researching my family's history and visiting the graves of those on my mother's side."

"Ah." Ranma nodded in understanding. "Did you find them?"

"Indeed I did." the man smiled faintly at an inside joke. "I was particularly interested in finding my grandfather's. He was a martial artist I was told. One of the best."

"Heh, sounds like me. I'm a martial artist." Ranma thumbed her chest in pride.

"Really?" The man stated in a tone that said he didn't believe her. "I doubt you practise the art."

"What?" Ranma boggled before turning angry. "Hey! I do to practise the art! Just cause I look -"

"I don't mean to be insulting," he cut her off. "But the art has long since fallen out of true practise."

"What do you mean? Why don't people practise it anymore?" Ranma asked in incredulity about how the art could fall out of practise. The art was her life, it was impossible to forget it.

"Sadly, in these days, with powered armour, guns, kinetic barriers, biotics, cybernetics, nobody truly practises the art anymore. Those that say they do are only using it for fitness purposes." the man stated. "A waste."

Ranma listened silently as the man talked with an almost bitter tone. She found herself feeling horrified at the revelation that the art, *her art* was something that had been forgotten. There weren't any real martial artists anymore she realised and with it, she now understood why everyone she had met since waking up in this time had been surprised by her skills. Skills that anyone dedicated to the art could achieve.

"Nobody practises the art anymore..." Ranma whispered to herself.

"That's right." the man nodded to her, having surprisingly overheard her.

"But...but I *do*." Ranma stated firmly. "I'm heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes."

"Are you really?" the man feigned surprise.

"I am." Ranma nodded sternly.

"I think I believe you." he stated. "Actually, it's strange. You remind me a little of my mother. You carry yourself the in the same manner. Confident."

"Was she a martial artist?"

"Yes and no." the man paused a moment. "She was, but she didn't want to be. I guess that was why I never met my grandfather until I was in my teens."

"How come?"

"The stories my mother used to tell me growing up about my grandfather were always intense. That he would push her hard to be the best martial artist of her generation when all she wanted was to be a normal girl. I guess he had his reasons, but she resented his controlling nature. Eventually she met my father, the son of a wealthy businessman on vacation in Japan and left with him. They married a year later and never had any more contact with my grandfather."

"Then how'd you meet him?" Ranma asked quietly.

"I never saw my mother fight, but she still practised every morning and I was always fascinated by it. Eventually she told me of her training. She made it out to be horrifying, as if she were trying to scare me off from asking further, but the more I heard the more curious I got. Eventually I sought out my grandfather."

"And?" Ranma asked, hanging onto every one of the man's words.

"I found him. He was...incredible. All my mother's stories couldn't prepare me for how larger than life he was. Have you ever seen someone put their fist through solid concrete without a scratch?"

"All the time." Ranma smirked.

"Heh." the man smirked back. "I guess you have."

"So did he train you?"

"In a way. I never was a fighter. I wasn't interested in the physical side, of the combat, but the way he could analyse an opponent in a few exchanges? The way he could out-think anyone when it came to combat? I saw the potential of that skill. I learnt how to focus from him and applied it to everything I do."

"Martial arts...thinking?" Ranma pondered the idea.

"Martial arts planning. Martial arts business tactics. You name it." the man grinned for a moment before his face went serious. "It's strange I would tell you all this. I guess I see something in you. I wonder...I wonder if you could actually bring back something we as a species have lost." He reached into his pockets and pulled out a plain wooden box. He held it out to Ranma. "Here. Take this."

"Err...what is it?" Ranma asked slowly taking the box.

"Consider it a gift for a real martial artist like yourself." the man smiled at her. "Inside are some scrolls. Family techniques that are of no use to myself. But maybe someone like you can put them to good use."

"New techniques!" Ranma's eyes lit up for a moment before she looked up at the man contemplatively. "Are you sure? I mean they're your family's right?"

"They'll do more good in your hands than sitting on my shelves." the man replied. "Now I really must be going. My driver will be getting worried." he waved as he walked past the redhead. Ranma stared down at the wooden box in her hands in wonder and missed the unpleasant smirk that crossed the man's face. It was the look of someone devious who had just gotten their own way after a long time of planning. "Good day...Ranma Saotome."

Ranma was so involved with studying the box she missed the fact he knew her name. She slid the lid off and looked inside at the set of old scrolls, all sealed neatly. She rolled one around with her finger until the faded text down the scroll was visible. For a second she could only stare dumbly. Then her eyes went wide in surprise as the name of the school of martial arts finally registered.

It was her own.

"Hey! Mister!" Ranma shouted as she spun around, but the man had already vanished from sight. However, she knew which direction he had gone and rushed after him.

x-X-x

"You look like the cat that ate the canary." Miranda Lawson stated as her employer climbed smoothly into the seat beside her. She turned to the Illusive Man with a look of concern etched on her face as he pulled the car door down.

"Exactly as planned." he replied while reaching to the side of his chair and picking up a pack of cigarettes. "I'd suggest we make a sharp exit." he added before Miranda could ask anything else. She didn't need to be told twice and quickly started the car as the Illusive Man drew a cigarette out and lit it. Looking into the mirror, she saw the red haired girl leap over the high wall of the graveyard. Somehow, the girl had picked them out of the crowd of cars parked nearby and was rushing their way, waving and shouting.

'How did she spot us without seeing which car he got into?' Miranda wondered even as she was raising the car into the air. Quickly she sped off, leaving the girl far behind and unable to follow. For a while, they sat in silence. Miranda driving and the Illusive Man smirking and watching the tall buildings and other vehicles pass by outside the window. Finally, Miranda broke the silence.

"That was tactically dangerous. Anything could have happened out there. What if you were recognised?"

"The probability of that occurring is minuscule. I've changed my face more than once before. You know that." the Illusive Man exhaled a lung-full of smoke. "And I felt the personal touch was needed in this case."

"I could have gone in your place. You're too important. Without you there would be no Cerberus."

"She wouldn't have trusted you."

"What? Are you saying she doesn't trust other women?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. The more beautiful, the more she would be distrustful." The Illusive Man stated, to which Miranda frowned at the backhand complement. "Let's just say her past experiences with women are...highly unusual."

"And how much of your story was true?" she asked, watching him from the corner of her eyes, curious to see if she had learnt anything of the Illusive Man's real past.

"Listening in on us." he stated, not sounding surprised or concerned about that fact at all.

"Of course. I needed to be ready to intervene if it had been a trap." Miranda responded calmly.

After a short pause, the Illusive Man answered elusively. "Some of it may have been true...or none of it at all. That, I'll leave up to you to decide."

x-X-x

"I don't believe this." Captain Anderson exclaimed as he and Nihlus moved down the street. "There *was* a Ranma Saotome born on that date. He was a martial artist. And he did inherit a dojo. Guess the name."

"The Tendo dojo." Nihlus replied knowingly from what Ranma had told them.

"Exactly...this is crazy." Anderson remarked still reading the details on his portable computer.

"I agree. We need to figure out who she really is." Nihlus responded. "And figure out who did this to her."

"Agreed. I don't know what's been done to her but it can't be good." Anderson shook his head. "Do you have any idea where she might be going?" Anderson asked as he followed Nihlus while the Turian led them through the crowded streets of Nerima. He was following the directions on his portable computer towards the graveyard Ranma Saotome was supposedly buried. The tall Turian drew many stares and whispers as he and the Captain passed the local residents. Some unpleasant, to which Nihlus ignored from practise of going into hostile territories.

"I suspect she'll try and find her home...or grave. She'll look for some proof that what she remembers is real." Nihlus spoke with the uneasy feeling that was growing steadily stronger from the moment Ranma had rushed off. "I suggest I check out the graveyard while you check the address she gave us."

"I can't let you run off alone." Anderson stated. "A Turian on Earth is still a rare occurrence. I would personally like to ensure nothing happens that could spark a diplomatic incident."

"I understand your concern, but I can handle myself."

"I know, but I'd rather you didn't have to." Anderson explained. "Anyway, I've already sent someone to check out the address."

"Then we check out the graveyard where she...he...is supposedly buried." Nihlus nodded bringing up the map on his portable computer.

There was a beep from Anderson's communicator. "Anderson here." he stated as he activated the earpiece.

"Captain, I've checked the address. It's a registered building made into a heritage museum to how dojo's were two hundred years ago." the tinny reply came through to the captain and Nihlus with them both being on the same channel.

"So the building is real." Anderson stated.

"And Captain, the curator said a girl matching her description had turned up there. She was apparently distressed and scared the bejeezus out of him."

"Good work. Make sure to get a full statement. Anderson out." he closed the channel and looked at Nihlus. "This is impossible. Can she really be who she says she is?"

"I think she believes she's who she says she is." Nihlus replied.

"You're suspecting implanted memories? But why? And who would want to make her think she was some long-dead guy? It makes no sense." Anderson frowned deeply as he tried to come up with a reason.

"I don't know. But right now we have an unstable girl, strong enough to toss around a Krogan and who has abilities beyond anything we've seen before running wild. We have to find Ranma and calm her down before someone gets hurt." Nihlus stated.

"When you put it that way...I wouldn't believe this unless I hadn't seen it myself." Anderson sighed. "Any idea how she managed to run down the building?"

"Has to be mass effects." Nihlus stated.

"I don't know. I'm beginning to believe her when she says she's not biotic. I've never seen those sort of abilities in a biotic before."

"We'll find out once we get her calmed down." Nihlus stated. They fell into silence after that until they found the cemetery and a familiar red head sat on one of the benches outside it, staring unseeingly down at a small wooden box she held in her hands.

"Wait here Captain. I'm not sure how she'll react to you." Nihlus told Anderson and then wandered quietly over to Ranma He sat down on the bench beside her and placed his hands on his knees. He then waited patiently for her to make the first move.

x-X-x

Ranma stared at the box deep in thought. The scrolls had the Saotome School of martial arts written on them. Her school and the thing that gave them the most authenticity were they were written in her own handwriting. That scared her more than finding the grave. Here was proof she had in the past wrote down various techniques.

She rolled the scrolls around again and frowned as one bumped up, as if it had rolled over a lump. Reaching in she found there was a small envelop, yellowed with age. She raised it up and saw it was addressed to her.

Ranma pulled the flap open and shook the contents into her hand. A small folded piece of paper fell out along with a black cord necklace, with a clear glass teakettle hanging as the ornament. Ranma unfolded the paper and found the words "To my husband and sometimes wife. A reminder of our misspent youth."

Ranma felt a sad smile tug the corner of her mouth at the kettle necklace. It was fitting she decided and fastened it around her neck. She folded the paper back up and slid it into the envelope once more. Then she put it back with the scrolls and shut the box.

'So...we had a daughter. And she hated me...' Ranma thought sadly. 'And a grandson that didn't recognise me. Maybe that was best eh? What kinda grandfather am I?' she shrugged looking down at herself.

While she sat there thinking, she noticed Nihlus and the Captain arrive. She paid them no attention, for once she felt too tired to bother running or fighting them. Nihlus wandered over and sat beside her. He remained silent and that pleased her. At that moment, she didn't feel like talking.

They sat there for nearly ten minutes, drawing odd glances as they made a very strange looking couple sat by the graveyard.

"Have you ever woken up and found out nothing is as it once was?" Ranma suddenly broke the silence.

"I would have said no until I met you, you know." Nihlus responded. "You're weird." he joked.

"So says the alien." Ranma snorted.

"Did you find what you were looking for here?"

"Only more questions." she continued to stare at the wooden box.

"I promised back on the Citadel to give you time and help you in any way I could. I intend to keep that promise. We'll figure out what was done to you." Nihlus stated.

"Thanks. I guess." Ranma replied. She suddenly drew a deep breath through her nose and exhaled through her mouth. Then she bounded to her feet. "Well. No point hanging around moping. That's Ryouga's stunt. Me? I need to figure out a way home. You coming?"

Nihlus looked up at her, impressed by her resilience. "You sure you're okay?"

"Feh! I'm fine. Just gotta find that stupid mirror and an onion or something similar and everything is gonna be put right." Ranma grinned and waved his concern off.

"Well, that's great. I'm not even going to try and figure out what you've just said." Nihlus stated happily and stood up.

"Heh. Just go with the flow man. Go with the flow. Cause things will probably get a lot crazier while I'm hanging around." Ranma chuckled as they walked off.

End of Chapter 4

Whoooo...finally got it finished. Sorry it took so long but there was so much setup I wanted to get over with and out of the way with this chapter. Hope it was worth waiting for.

Special thanks to Yanslana who put up with being my rubber wall to bounce thoughts off. Especially helpful to get feedback from someone who doesn't know Mass Effect deeply. :)

Hope you caught the hints Sovereign dropped in his wording :P


	5. Chapter 5

Wild Effect 05

The day after Ranma's return to Earth dawned clear and cool, with the promise of being warm and bright later. Ranma awoke from a fitful sleep just as the sky had only just begun to lighten. She had been unsettled by the revelations of the previous day, although she wouldn't admit to it. They had left a series of disturbing thoughts running around her head that wouldn't leave.

Ranma laid silently on the bed she was using and stared up at the ceiling for a long while, just letting her mind drift until with growing agitation, she pulled the sheet off and swung her legs out so she could sit up on the edge of the bed. She placed her feet onto the cold floor and hands on the bed edge and continued to brood.

'Well, at least when I get back I know what's coming.' Ranma thought sourly. 'I even know the date of my death.'

"Stop that!" Ranma commanded herself and shook her head to clear the morbid thoughts. She hopped to her feet, bouncing from the bed and then crossed the spartan room to the small bathroom hidden behind the sliding panel. Soon after she returned and picked her pants off the floor by the bottom of the bed, pulled them on over her boxer shorts, followed by stepping into her thin slippers. She didn't bother with her red and black shirt, preferring to keep cooler while practising by only wearing her vest. That was if she found somewhere decent on the base to practice.

Hitting the switch by her door made the door slide open and she stepped into the plain and featureless corridor beyond. The grey concrete walls had a few painted arrows of different colours stating where they pointed towards. Ranma turned to her right and walked quickly and quietly along. She soon found the building's exit, guarded by two soldiers who let her pass without fuss or comment.

Ranma paused just outside the base and leaned her arm against the wall at head height and watched the sun slowly rising beyond the towers in the distance. The sound of solders jogging around the forecourt made her look over towards them. She watched them going through their morning exercises and realised that at least military training seemed to have remained constant, even if real martial arts had fallen out of practice. Behind her the door slid open again.

"You're up early." Nihlus stated as he stood just behind Ranma.

"Got bored of being still." Ranma replied, knowing instinctively that Nihlus had been listening in for her leaving her room. She turned her head back to the turian. He wasn't wearing his armour for once, foregoing it instead for a tight-fitting blue suit with orange strips.

"Need anything?"

"Nah, I'm good." Ranma waved his concern off. "Hey." she turned fully to Nihlus. "Want to start training? I need something to hit."

"I...don't like the sound of that." Nihlus admitted.

"Not you. Yet." Ranma grinned. "Unless you're offering?"

"I'd rather keep my bones unbroken thank you." Nihlus shook his head and held his hands up to ward her off.

"Heh. Nah, I meant want to start your training while I hit things."

"Okay." Nihlus replied after a moment to think it over. "What do we need?"

"Well, I need a thick post about two and a bit metres long, or something similar. A bit of rope and a bag of marbles or small pebbles."

"Marbles or pebbles?" Nihlus's mandibles twitched as he wondered, "What for?"

"You'll find out shortly, won't you." Ranma smirked mysteriously.

"I'll go see if Captain Anderson is awake then." Nihlus shrugged as he moved to turn away.

"Why? This is just for us." Ranma didn't sound too pleased by Nihlus's plan.

"Sorry Ranma. I know you're not too happy with the whole situation with the Captain, but this *is* an Alliance base and we are guests. He does have the authority to request items for us."

"I thought you were able to do anything. Couldn't you get them for us?" Ranma pointed out.

"Technically I can. I'm just trying to be polite. Sometimes that can get you further than just demanding stuff. It's something you should maybe try more often." Nihlus half-lectured, half-joked.

"Fine." Ranma relented. "Go find the old man and we'll get started."

"Will you be staying here?" Nihlus gently asked, trying to not to sound as if he was worried about her running off again.

"Ain't like I've got some place to run off to...yet." Ranma responded. She took a deep breath and began stretching while keeping an eye on the turian who was hovering uncertainly over her. Finally Nihlus must have decided he could trust her to stay put and headed back into the barracks.

Ranma soon moved smoothly from stretching into a smooth kata, trying to find that peaceful zone where it was just her and the art. It didn't want to be found today it seemed, as her mind refused to forget she wasn't where she should be. When she should be.

'How did I end up in the future? Ryouga can't get *that* lost...can he?' Ranma wondered as the feeling she was missing something kept creeping up on her. She was so engrossed in her worried thoughts that she almost missed that Nihlus had returned and he had the Captain in tow.

Ranma quickly wound down and turned to them. "You're back." she stated and took in Anderson's casual dress, loose pants and a tee. As she had expected, the Captain was decently muscled and toned, showing he kept himself in good shape.

"Of course. I'm interested in seeing what you want with those items." Nihlus said indicating the bag Anderson carried. Nihlus shrugged off the rope he had over his shoulder and held to out for Ranma.

"Thanks." she took the white rope and felt the roughness of it with her thumbs. She smiled faintly amused at the perfectness of the manufactured material. "Would have preferred the old fashioned stuff, but it'll do." she dropped it to the ground in a coil.

"Good morning Ranma." Anderson attempted a pleasant greeting. "Your request is unus - huh?"

"Thanks Old-man." Ranma replied with her back already turned to him as she picked out a marble from the bag she had liberated from Anderson's hands before he had even realised she had moved.

"My God! I didn't even see her move." Anderson exclaimed as Ranma tossed a single marble high into the air and caught it with a swipe of her hand as it came back down under the force of gravity.

"Where's the post?" Ranma asked over her shoulder.

"It's on the way." Anderson told her after gathering himself.

"So what are we going to do?" Nihlus asked as he stepped closer. Ranma turned to him and gave a smirk that made him think of a predator closing in on its prey. He had the sudden sinking sensation that he would end up tied to the post Ranma had requested for some reason.

"Well," Ranma began as her expression went thoughtful. "Seeing as you're decently fit I think we'll start with finding out how good you are at concentrating."

"Sounds...reasonable." Nihlus almost said easy, but remembering Ranma saying ten years or so told him it wasn't going to be as easy as he first thought

"Sit down here." Ranma pointed to a spot seemingly at random. Nihlus did as she asked. Ranma also sat down, folding her legs so she was in a lotus position. "Copy me...erm, if you can that is." Ranma added knowing Nihlus's legs were a slightly different shape to that of a human's. After a short while to adjust his legs, Nihlus managed.

"Now what?" The turian asked sitting opposite of Ranma.

"Now I want you to concentrate on your breathing. Shut your eyes and just breathe in. Deeply and slowly. I want you to feel the energy inside you, breath in and collect it. Feel your surroundings without seeing them and work on gaining the focus required." Ranma instructed and led by example, breathing deeply and slowly.

Nihlus watched her a moment before doing as she asked. He shut his eyes and began to concentrate on his breathing. Ranma studied Nihlus for a while until a pair of young looking soldiers approached carrying the long wooden post she wanted.

"Ah ha!" Ranma exclaimed hopping to her feet.

"Ranma, where do you want it?" Anderson asked as the young recruits stopped by him.

"Hold that thought." Ranma stated and flicked her arm out. There was the sound of a marble hitting a metallic surface followed by a shout of surprise from Nihlus.

"What the hell? That was my face!" Nihlus snapped and glared up at Ranma as he rubbed the spot Ranma had hit him.

"You're supposed to be concentrating on breathing. I don't want you opening your eyes or reacting to anything. Even if a bomb goes off behind you, you're to remain like that until I say you're done." Ranma explained.

"I...see. But is throwing marbles at me really part of the training?" Nihlus asked.

"Consider them motivation." Ranma smirked. "And Nihlus?"

"Yes?"

Thawk! Another marble struck the turian on the forehead.

"Sonova!"

"Concentrate!" Ranma snapped. Nihlus quickly shut his eyes and tried to ignore the dull throb from the last impact. The pigtailed martial-artist waited a few moments to be sure Nihlus was doing it right before turning back to the Captain and the two recruits who looked on with raised eyebrows.

"Thanks guys." Ranma stated after plucking the large wooden post from their hands and spun it around to end up resting over her shoulder. Anderson had to step away and duck slightly as the sharp end of the post passed him close by. He wasn't sure if Ranma had swung it that close on purpose.

The two recruits looked stunned at the sight of the petite girl carrying the post that had taken two of them to carry safely just handle it like it weighed nothing.

"You two! Dismissed!" Anderson barked as they stood gaping. They flinched in surprise at the loud shout and gave a rough salute before rushing off, looking back over their shoulders all the way. "You're not planning on hitting Nihlus with that are you?" Anderson asked in fear of the turian's health as he turned his attention back to Ranma.

"Nah. Just gonna use it as a punching post." Ranma replied taking a few steps closer to the building, walking as if she were measuring something. Then when she was happy she stopped spun the long post off her should and slammed it into the concrete ground, forcing it smoothly down until it stuck out at the average height of a full grown man.

"How?" Anderson's eyes widened in surprise. He rushed over and examined the pole closely, bending down to get a better look. He glanced back up at Ranma. "That's impossible! The concrete is harder than this wood!"

"Not when infused with ki to the tip." Ranma chuckled and flicked her arm out again. Another thawk was heard followed by a curse from Nihlus. "I said you weren't to stop even if a bomb goes off!" Ranma called over.

"You can do that?"

"Yep. Even a moron can do this sort of thing. In fact, I know..." Ranma paused with an upset look crossing her face for a moment. One Anderson didn't missed. "Knew, a moron who used a wooden practice sword that would cut through concrete on a regular basis."

"Are you okay?" the Captain asked as Ranma turned and walked back to the rope.

"I'm fine." she replied picking the rope up and heading back to the post. Soon Ranma had the post wrapped in rope and quickly tied it off. Anderson stood back and watched with a frown in his face, knowing she was lying but he didn't want to push her as she already didn't trust him anymore. He'd let Nihlus know he suspected she was hiding her emotions over her situation. Maybe the turian could get her to open up.

Ranma took a moment to centre herself before she started to practice throwing her punches at the wooden post. She decided she'd just keep it simple and practice a non-enhanced punch for a while to work out her frustration. For once she was wishing Ryouga or somebody would burst onto the scene bellowing a challenge, something familiar. After a few hard blows against the post she knew something was wrong. A frown crossed her face as she continued to send blow after blow against the roped covered post.

Anderson stood back and folded his arms as he watched the redhead practice against the punching post she had set up. Ranma seemed to get angry over something as the speed of her blows slowly increased in tempo and soon the post was vibrating with each powerful blow that struck it. Soon she mixed it up by adding her other fist, pounding the wood relentlessly.

'She's really going for it.' Anderson frowned as he watched her take out her frustrations on the post. He watched her send blow after blow hit the white rope until with a shocked realisation he noticed the white rope was slowly turning pink where Ranma was punching it.

"Ranma! I think that's enough." Anderson stated in concern for her well-being. Ranma ignored him and continued to punch the post. The Captain quickly moved closer, but kept just enough distance to seem non-threatening. "Ranma please stop." he tried as the white became more stained from the girl's bloody knuckles.

Ranma ignored him. Ignored the pain that she knew she shouldn't be feeling and continued to punch the post, focused on completing her practice that should have been easy.

"Ranma! Please stop this! You're hurting yourself." Anderson pleaded while wondering how the hell he could stop her. He knew she could overpower him easily so grabbing her arm was out. He was almost ready to tackle her when with a loud cry she spun on the spot and lashed a kick into the wood. With a loud crack the post shattered near the point it stuck into the ground and bounced and rolled across the forecourt, coming to a halt a few metres from themselves.

Ranma controlled her spin until she stopped once more facing the same direction the post had been and held her leg ready while balancing perfectly on her other. Slowly she lowered her fists and leg together until she stood with clenched fists by her thighs and lowered her head, letting her fringe cover her eyes. As Anderson looked on with his concern showing on his face, he could see a large drop of blood collect under her knuckles, slowly stretch out and finally dripped to the ground.

"Ranma-"

Ranma snapped toward Anderson, her eyes flashing dangerously as she glared up at him and pointed a finger. "I'm fine! I'm not some soft little girl!"

For a moment Anderson wasn't sure if that was directed at him or herself.

"Tell Nihlus to keep that up until I get back." Ranma spoke again, this time in a subdued tone. "I'm gonna get a bath and come back."

Anderson held his tongue and just watched Ranma walk away. She held her fists tightly and walked in the exaggerated smoothness of someone hurt and doing their best to hide it.

Ranma didn't look back as she moved back inside the building and back towards her temporary room in the base. She soon got back to her room, opened the door and went inside. As the door clicked shut behind her she fell back against it and hissed through her teeth at the pain.

Ranma raised her shaking hands to study the back of them, to see the damage she had inflicted. Her knuckles were rubbed red raw from the blows, layers of skin removed from the impacts. They were no longer bleeding but they still stung as she unclenched her fingers. The broken skin was already beginning to heal over as her advanced and automatic ki manipulation sped up her recovery to unnatural levels.

She continued to stare at her hands as if she had never seen them before, which is exactly what she feared. Ranma snapped her hands back into fists and bent herself at the waist so she could gingerly roll up the leg of her pants. The nasty bruise on her shin that it revealed was exactly what she had suspected from the pain each step back had caused.

"This is wrong...it shouldn't hurt like this." Ranma whispered as she knew her body wasn't this soft without using her ki. She had trained for years under her father to gain the levels of toughness she had. It was as if that was all gone. Having another uneasy feeling, Ranma slowly began to examine her arms carefully.

"Gone." she muttered as her fingers traced the areas she remembered having scars from early injuries before her ki training had solved the scarring problem. "All gone..."

Almost in a panic she pulled her vest up and checked for other scars that should be there. All she found was perfectly formed, smooth skin. Soft and supple. Even before, her girl-form's skin had never been so soft and scar-free.

"How? How can they just vanish?" Ranma asked the empty room as she racked her brain for any explanation. She couldn't find one unless somehow time-travel had fixed her scars. She let her vest fall back to cover her belly and began pacing across the room, albeit with a minor limp in her step.

After a moment the stabbing pain in her shin began annoying her more than the bizarre missing scars and soft skin.

"Stupid girl body...does it always have to do all this weird stuff to me? No wonder girl's are weird if they can't trust their bodies." Ranma grumbled as she decided to help along the recovery so she would not have to explain or acknowledge she had hurt herself to anyone.

Ranma carefully lowered herself to the floor and folded her legs underneath herself, with a wince at pulling on the bruised one. Then she began to breathe slowly and steadily as she focused on her body and speeding along her already quick recovery powers. She calmly eased her internal energies along to the damage and took her time in feeling out for anything else that was wrong with her.

Her meditation on her internal energies showed nothing odd. Everything seemed to be as it should. Her body felt that it was her own cursed form; everything was in the right place for it. Her ki felt as normal for her natural form.

"What the hell?" Ranma suddenly snapped her eyes open in surprise as she caught the significance of her last thought. She quickly held a hand out with her palm facing upwards and pulled her ki into a glowing blue floating ball of energy. She stared at it closely in disbelief as it swirled around and double checked what she was feeling.

"No way...my ki's as strong as being in my guy form? How the hell?" Ranma exclaimed and continued to study the swirling energy. Her mind began racing over how her cursed-form's ki had suddenly become the same as her natural form.

It had always been one of the many annoyances of the curse that her ki levels, strength and speed differed in each form. Having to adjust, sometimes on the fly, to weaker or stronger levels was annoying, but had brought Ranma a lot more control from being forced to adapt in mid-battle at times.

"Impossible. You don't just gain a chunk of ki overnight. Not unless you're in one of those anime where they pull power-ups outta their ass just at the last moment." Ranma muttered.

Even though she didn't understand how it had happened, her senses weren't misleading her. "Could it be compensating?" Ranma wondered thinking on how she had mysteriously lost some of her conditioning when not using her ki. Unless she had been in a magical coma for nearly two hundred years she couldn't think of why her body would be weaker but her ki stronger.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the door behind her beeped and slid open.

"Are you okay?" Anderson's deep voice asked from the doorway.

Ranma discarded the ball ki, letting it evaporate away before looking back over her shoulder towards the captain. "I'm fine." Ranma gave him an unconvincing smirk before she sprang off the floor and back to her feet.

"But your hands." Anderson pushed as Ranma rolled her head. "There's blood on that post. I know you hurt yourself."

"So? It's all part of training and I've had much worse before." Ranma explained in a tone of voice that said she didn't want to talk about it anymore. "Anyway, already better." She smirked as she held her hands up so that Anderson could see they were healed, as if nothing had happened.

"But...I don't believe it..." Anderson slowly shook his head in disbelief. "Are you even human?" he added.

"Feh!" Ranma picked her shirt off the back of the chair and pulled it over her head. "Not my fault you guys have forgotten how to do this stuff." Ranma stated and pulled her pigtail free from the tight collar. She flicked it back as she turned back towards Anderson. "Did Nihlus follow you?"

"No...He's still outside. I think."

"Good. 'Cause if he's not still concentrating he's gonna be running around the forecourt carrying that post and dodging rocks."

"Now that'd be a sight to see." Anderson laughed at the joke.

Ranma eyed the captain oddly. "I'm being serious."

"You...are?" Anderson's chuckle trailed off as Ranma moved over to the small set of drawers by the door. She looked thoughtful for a moment before swiping the wooden box she had been given yesterday off the top of the drawers.

"Let's go get my student. I'm hungry now." she stated.

x-X-x

Ten minutes later Ranma was sitting at one of the tables in the mess-hall and eating a prepackaged meal that didn't come close to the breakfast's she had grown used to at the Tendo's. She found herself suddenly homesick at the bland taste and proceeded to actually eat in an almost civilised manner for once.

Another reason for the slow pace was she currently split her attention between the meal and the scrolls inside the box. The lid lay next to it and a couple of the scrolls had been removed. She had quickly glanced over them the night before but hadn't felt up to properly giving them the attention they deserved. Now however, she had the one that caught her eye the most unrolled across the table next to her meal and slowly ran the fingers of her free hand across the written words, taking them in while occasionally lifting a mouthful of the meal to her lips with her other hand.

"Hmm." Ranma hummed and tapped her finger. "Why didn't I think of that earlier?"

"Think of what?" Nihlus's shadow fell across her as he pulled the chair across from her out and sat down. He placed his own meal down, one of the many he had brought along for the trip, not knowing exactly how prepared the human bases would be for turian biology.

"This." Ranma stated pointing at the scroll. Nihlus gave it a cursory glance, unable to make the words out without getting his portable computer to translate them for him. He waited for Ranma to explain. "It's an addition or improvement to the Hiryu Shoten Ha."

"Rising Dragon's Ascension Blast? With a name like that it must be impressive."

"Oh yeah." Ranma agreed with a proud grin. "It's one of my most powerful moves."

"Could I see a demonstration?" the Spectre asked.

"Nah, not really." Ranma sighed and rested her elbow on the tabletop and her chin on her palm. She slowly began tracing a spiral with her pointer finger of her other hand. "It's works by creating cold ki and moving in a spiral while using your opponent's hot ki to create a tornado and basically sucks them up into it. I seriously doubt there's anybody about that could produce enough hot ki to use for a demonstration."

"A...tornado?" Nihlus asked with scepticism lacing his voice.

"And I don't think there's anyone that could take the damage from the fall either. I mean nobody remembers how to use ki properly to toughen themselves. I wouldn't use that technique on anyone who can't take it." Ranma added.

"I guess I have to take your word for it then. So what is this addition?"

"Well, the scroll says while doing the spiral, you manipulate the hot and cold ki at the same time, rubbing them in opposite ways. You create a second tornado within the first going the other way and that's supposed to create a lightning storm inside, causing serious damage to your opponent. Rising Dragon's Ascension of the Lightning God." Ranma leaned back. "I dunno, but it seems a little vicious to me. Can't believe I made this up."

Nihlus stayed quiet as he studied Ranma's expression of doubt.

"This scroll has another variation of this trick too." Ranma reached for another of the scrolls and unrolled it on top of the first. "Creating two layers of ki, one hot, one cold and rubbing them together can create an electric charge. It's kinda a joke technique, I think, for occasionally zapping people with static."

"And you can create hot and cold, er, ki?"

"Sure." Ranma stated as there was a sudden and noticeable temperature drop around the area.

"So that *was* you in the elevator." Nihlus exclaimed as he remembered the odd temperature drop on the way up to see the Council.

"Heh. Sure was." Ranma grinned as she cancelled the technique.

"As I'm interested in seeing any of your abilities in action, could you do show me that one?."

"Of course I can. I came up with it." Ranma puffed up.

"Not yet you haven't." Nihlus pointed out. "That's if this whole thing is real."

"Feh." Ranma waved unconcerned. "Piece of cake." she stated holding a finger up and attempted to produce and control two layers of ki at the same time around the digit.

Nihlus waited as Ranma's face crunched up into a look of intense concentration. The turian couldn't see anything, unlike the previous times Ranma had made herself glow with energy; this didn't seem as flashy for whatever reason.

"Think I've nearly got it." Ranma muttered with her brow furrowing further. She slowly brought her finger down towards the metal surface of the table.

There was sudden bright spark and a sharp crack followed by Ranma yelping in surprise and yanking her finger back faster than Nihlus could follow. A faint smell of ozone floated about as the redhead waved a singed finger around before sticking it in her mouth and sucking on it.

Nihlus blinked his surprise away as it turned quickly to amusement "Is zapping yourself with static the way it's supposed work?" he chuckled. Ranma eyed him sourly before removing her finger to examine the pink skin.

"Laugh it up scales." Ranma replied and gave her sore finger another shake. "And no it ain't."

"It's probably the metal table." Nihlus stated.

"Nah, according to the scroll you insulate yourself with your ki so you don't get the zap. So I'm not doing it completely right." Ranma said and turned back to read the scroll carefully once more. "Hmm? I think I know why."

Nihlus continued to watch as Ranma tapped the scroll. She once again held her finger up and seemed to be focusing on the tip.

"You're trying again?" he asked.

"Yep." Ranma said as she brought her finger down towards the table with the same result. A sharp crack and static discharge made her yelp and yank her hand back. "Dammit!" Ranma grumbled while waving her stinging appendage around.

"Harder to do than it sounds?" Nihlus looked on, amused by the display.

"Grr." Ranma growled in annoyance. "Stupid technique, you won't beat me!"

Nihlus leaned back in his chair and studied Ranma as she went about trying to pull off the technique she was attempting. This resulted in a series of trial by error attempts by Ranma which usually ended in her getting a static shock, but she kept on going. Nihlus made notes on his computer about what he was observing, about her determination to learn and her willingness to try different methods to achieve what she was after.

"Youch!" Ranma snarled as her latest attempt proved unfruitful.

"I'm telling you, it's the metal in the table." Nihlus suggested as he finished typing his thoughts into the holographic interface on his arm.

"What's wrong with the table?" Anderson asked as the Captain approached, having overheard only the last few words. Two pairs of eyes turned to the Captain for a moment.

"Ranma's attempting something new. It's not working as expected." Nihlus explained as Anderson pulled up a chair and sat down next to the Spectre.

"Really? What is it?" Anderson looked across the table to Ranma with interest.

"I'm trying to zap the table without zapping myself." Ranma told the Captain off-handily as she poured over the scroll once more, trying to find anything that would explain why she was messing up.

"Zap?" Anderson wondered.

"Ranma's actually creating a static charge with her ki. She's not supposed to get zapped by her own technique but I don't think the table is listening to her." Nihlus sounded amused as he tapped the table's surface for emphasis.

Anderson took a moment to look over at Ranma. "You can do that? Wait...forget I said that. If she said she can fly I'd be inclined to believe her."

"Actually," Ranma looked up.

"You can?" Anderson boggled.

"Don't be stupid old man. That's impossible without wings." she smirked as the Captain's expression went from unbelieving to annoyed. "I think I'm going about this all wrong." Ranma added excitedly.

"How's that?" Nihlus leaned closer.

"I'm trying to make it too small. It's probably harder to control while it's small. Gonna try making it bigger." Ranma's eyes sparkled with triumph as she held her hands up, palms facing in towards each other. "This one'll be cold ki." she indicated her left hand. "And the other hot. Then I have more area to figure out how to stop it zapping me."

"And you're sure that's a good idea?" Nihlus asked.

"Ah, it'll be fine." Ranma grinned in reply and began to focus on the technique. As she began to bring the two layer of ki together she could feel the air between her palms become agitated by the movement of her ki. She stopped bringing her hands closer and began to feel for the static build-up.

"Ha! Nearly got it!" she crowed and brought her hands closer together until they were less than an inch apart.

"I don't see anything? Doesn't she usually glow?" Anderson asked as he studied what Ranma was doing.

"Give me time old man. I'm only just getting a feel for it." Ranma stated. Soon she began to grin. "Perfect. Now to up the power."

Anderson leaned against the table and went quiet. He watched the look of concentration on the redhead's face as she continued to apply more power to the technique. Nihlus suddenly tapped his shoulder and pointed at Ranma's head where a few strands of her hair began to billow gently by an unseen force.

"Did you see that?" Anderson gasped in surprise as what appeared to be electricity arced from one side of Ranma's hands to the other.

"Ranma..." Nihlus began when electrical energy arced in between her hands. "Not to worry you but are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Don't worry. I got it under control." Ranma replied. In a few moments the electrical discharge arced again. Then shortly the energy bursts began to become more frequent, in-line with Ranma increasing the level of her ki. By now the hairs on Ranma's head began to rise like when you touched the outside of a plasma-ball. Even her pigtail gained a life of its own.

"Incredible." Anderson breathed at the amazing sight of the white-blue energy arcing randomly in the small gap between Ranma's hands. He followed her hands with his eyes as she raised them above her head.

With a premonition of impending doom from seeing Ranma's previous attempts, Nihlus's self-preservation instincts kicked in and he pushed his chair away from the table. Anderson caught sight of the Spectre backing away and decided that if the Spectre was wary it was best to join him. He too slid his chair back.

"I got you this time!" Ranma exclaimed before bringing her hands down together in a chopping motion and pushing as much ki as she could into the two layers the moment before her hands closed together just above the table top. Electrical discharge arced around her hands and leapt across the air to connect to the metal surface before she could touch the table.

"Gahgahgahaaaagiggitygah!" Ranma was heard yelling before she was thrown across the room from the discharge with a loud crack, sounding almost like thunder and a bright flash from the point of contact. She slammed into the chairs behind her, scattering them and came to rest underneath the table behind her.

"Ranma!" Nihlus was out of his seat and moving quickly to check on her, as too did Anderson a mere moment behind the Spectre. Nihlus took hold of one of Ranma's legs and retracted her from under the table. Her appearance was somewhat frazzled, hairs poking stiffly up from her head at random and she appeared a little crispy as she dryly coughed the air from her lungs.

"Okay, this is gonna take a bit more thinking about." Ranma groaned sitting up and giving her head a shake.

"You're okay?" Nihlus asked as Anderson gave a sigh in relief and turned to look back at the table that took the discharged energy. He wandered back over to it as he wanted to see what damage Ranma had caused.

"Heh, takes more than that to put me down." Ranma grinned and climbed to her feet. She brushed her arms off. "I'll think I'll study the scroll a bit more before attempting that again."

"Um, you wouldn't mean this scroll, would you?" Anderson asked while delicately holding up the blackened and smouldering remains of the scroll that had been too close to the point of impact. Ranma's face fell for a moment before she calmed herself.

"Ah, damn it. Not to worry though, I've already got the basic idea down. Good thing the rest are all right. Who knows what amazing techniques are on them." Ranma stated.

Anderson looked down at the table top again and saw the box next to the remains of the scroll also was blackened. He dragged the small box over with one finger over the lip and stared inside at the ash that was all that remained of the contents.

"You...did take a copy of these? Right?" Anderson asked, expecting the worst.

It took Ranma a few seconds before what Anderson was alluding to sank in. Her anguished cry was heard throughout the base.

"Nooooo!"

x-X-x

Later that evening, Ranma sat crossed legged on the smooth, sloped roof of the shooting range and watched as the sun set in the distance, casting an orange glow over the base. The wind was light and played with her pigtail as she just took the moment to relax. Below her on the range a few gunshots went off, along with some boastful laughs as a group of young recruits competed to hit the most targets.

Her day had been filled with Nihlus showing her various weapons, shooting them and then spending another few hours learning to keep them operational. Before today she hadn't believed guns could need so much fiddling with. At least Nihlus seemed to be pleased she could use one if she had to, as after the first few tries she was soon hitting the targets with a ninety plus accuracy.

Nihlus had suggested tomorrow they would move onto run and gun style combat training. Not wanting to be stuck playing with guns for another day Ranma had jumped onto the range and ran around, leaping, flipping and generally showing off while still hitting the targets with the weapon and one ki blast. She wished she had known her personal computer thing had a camera, because the look on Nihlus's face had been priceless. In the end he had agreed she didn't really need to spend much time practicing shooting.

Ranma still didn't plan on using a gun, but had reluctantly agreed to carry one around with her to 'complete the look' as Nihlus said. Ironically it was the one she swiped from Saren back on the Citadel to prove a point. It currently lay beside her, safety on.

Her thoughts about the day were interrupted by the tap of a metal on concrete as the top of a ladder clapped onto the edge of the roof. Then the sounds of someone climbing were heard, followed by Nihlus's head poking over the lip of the roof. The turian soon pulled himself onto the roof and crossed over to sit down beside Ranma.

"You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find a set of ladders in this place." Nihlus said in good humour.

"That's why it's easier to just learn how to jump up to these places." Ranma grinned.

"Ah, but not all of us have super-powers."

"It's only super because nobody remembers how to do it." Ranma sighed at having another reminder she wasn't where she should be.

Sensing her mood change Nihlus asked. "About that, are you sure you're okay?"

"Me? Yeah 'course I am. I'm Ranma Saotome after all!" Ranma boasted. "If it was Ryouga that got me this lost, all I have to do is wait around long enough and he'll find me again. Hopefully get me back home to."

"Ranma, you can tell me if you're upset. I won't think any less of you."

"I'm fine. Takes something weirder than being trapped in the future with aliens to upset me. This doesn't even rate on the Saotome-weirdness meter!" Ranma laughed and then gave a friendlily slap on the back to Nihlus, which momentarily knocked the air from his lungs.

"That's good..." Nihlus coughed to get his breath back. "Although I'd personally hate to see what does."

"Heh."

"And your gender problem? Any ideas on how to solve that?" Nihlus questioned.

"Well, I was thinking about that. I'm in the future right? Back when I fought Herb he had the kettle unlocked back on Mount Horaisan. I'm pretty sure I can just take a stroll down there and use it."

"Kettle?" Nihlus scratched one of his mandibles.

"Yeah. It'll unlock the curse then I can get back to normal."

"Oh." Nihlus just agreed, certain his computer was mistranslating what Ranma was saying. Maybe her accent was throwing it off, he reasoned as she may be using antiquated terms. "Where is this mountain?" he asked.

"It's here in Japan. I could get there in a few days travel." Ranma stated. She brightened suddenly. "Say, you said you'd help me out. Think we could go find the place soon?"

"If you're sure this...'kettle'...is still there?" Nihlus responded slowly.

"Well...hopefully..."

"Okay, I'll look up this Mount Horaisan." Nihlus nodded and lifted his arm up to activate the holographic interface. He quickly began a search on the place Ranma wished to visit. Not a lot of information came back, but one article did catch his eye immediately. He quickly brought it up and read it aloud.

"In the late summer of 1986, a geological event occurred which to this day has geologists puzzled by the mountain's sudden and shocking collapse."

"What?" Ranma exclaimed.

"At the time local witnesses claimed to have seen flashes of light on the mountain top minutes before it cracked and crumbled in one itself. One local claimed it had been like seeing the gods fighting on the mountain. There has been no evidence of flooding nearby to have caused a landslide and the mountain itself was on solid bedrock. Various theories have been put forth, from lightning to aliens but no confirmed reason has yet been found. That's from one of those mysteries of the world sites." Nihlus finished. He glanced over to Ranma who looked shocked.

"The mountain...collapsed?" Ranma stated quietly as her hopes of finding the kettle easily were dashed on the jagged teeth of despair.

"Is that date meaningful?"

"Yeah." Ranma sighed and frowned in thought. "Herb must have tried to destroy the mountain to stop me getting the kettle." Ranma reasoned. Thinking on it a little more she decided it sounded like something the arrogant prince would have tried.

"Destroyed a mountain? Seriously? There's no way anyone can have that sort of power." Nihlus stared across at the redhead.

"Just 'cause you've not seen it doesn't mean someone can't do it." Ranma remarked turning to stare at the sunset as the life-giving star sank below the horizon in the distance. The breeze played with her hair as she set her jaw and thought about the past. The past she wanted to return to.

"Ranma, there's something I want to say." Nihlus began. "Don't take this the wrong way, but have you thought your memories may be...falsified?"

"No! I *know* who I am." Ranma denied too quickly for Nihlus's liking. He suspected she already had.

"But unless your over two hundred years old how do you think you got here?"

"Ryouga. Has to be." Ranma's bottom lip quivered in self-doubt for a fraction of a second before she squeezed her lips into a thin line. "Or asleep. I know master's of the art can live for a very long time." she made another excuse.

"And what will you do if you can't go back?" Nihlus asked, not believing for a second Ranma could return to where she believed herself to be from.

"I'll get back." Ranma stated firmly still watching the sunset.

"But if you can't?" Nihlus pushed.

Ranma didn't reply straight away, and then with a deep breath she answered. "Then I'll pass this Spectre training. Do my duty as a martial artist to protect those weaker than me." She turned to face Nihlus with determination in her eyes. "And, bring back the art."

Nihlus held Ranma's gaze for a short moment and then nodded proudly. "That's all I needed to hear." He pushed himself back to his feet and looked down at the short martial artist. "Want to head back inside?"

"Nah." Ranma replied leaning back. She placed her hands beneath her head and stared up at the darkening sky, looking out for the first stars to appear. "It's going to be a nice night. I think I'll watch the stars for a while."

x-X-x

The next weeks passed by quickly for Ranma. Her days consisted of beginning to spar with Nihlus first thing on the morning which usually ended up with the Spectre promising never to do it again as Ranma would run him ragged or he'd end up a beaten and sore turian by breakfast.

After breakfast it was Nihlus's turn to do the teaching, showing Ranma all the modern weaponry, how it worked and what its weaknesses might be. Then there was learning about the various Council races and the non-Council ones as well. Nihlus lectured her on the tactics required against each species in the afternoons. When Ranma learnt that krogan had two hearts, multiple backup organs and were considered very hard to kill, she joked that they'd make better sparring partners than out of shape Spectres, much to Nihlus's chagrin.

"You really need to roll with the momentum when I throw you next time." Ranma remarked casually between bites of her breakfast.

"I did." Nihlus replied sourly from across the table. He held an icepack to his side and ate with slow movements so as to not aggravate the injury. "But when someone throws you off the barrack's roof first thing in the morning you tend to forget that." Nihlus growled. "I thought you meant to show me how to jump off heights like you do. Not toss me off without warning!"

"I did give you a warning." Ranma stated.

"Yes you did. If you count *hiya!* a warning after you've hoisted me over your head." the Spectre snapped and then regretted it as his ribs complained.

"Ah stop whining you big baby. My Pops threw me off cliffs when I was younger. It never hurt me. Well...aside from that first time." Ranma put a finger to her lips in remembrance. She quickly forgot it. "Anyway, I'm sure you're gonna get back at me today with another boring lesson about kinotatic barriers or somesuch technocrap."

"Oh, I've got the *perfect* way to get back at you." Nihlus promised darkly.

"What's that then?"

"You'll find out. Eventually." Nihlus told Ranma seconds before his communicator beeped, demanding attention. "Nihlus here."

"Nihlus, its Anderson. Would you come down to the secured comms room? The Council is asking to speak with us."

"We'll be there shortly." Nihlus responded and closed the channel.

"S'up?" Ranma glanced up from her food as the Spectre slowly got to his feet with a wince.

"The Council's asking for us." Nihlus replied with a frown.

"Bad news?" Ranma asked seeing Nihlus looked apprehensive.

"No. It's just I wasn't expecting communications this early. Come on, we better not keep them waiting too long."

Ranma quickly inhaled the last of her breakfast and sprang out of the chair to follow Nihlus out the mess hall and down to the secured communication's area. They were met by Anderson as they entered the room.

"Good, you're here." the Captain nodded in greeting and secured the door they had just entered by typing in a numbered code on the panel beside it.

"Do you know what this is about?" Nihlus asked as Anderson turned away from the panel and crossed the room, passing the Spectre on his way.

"Yes, but I think it'll be best to let the Council explain." Anderson replied mysteriously.

Nihlus's mandibles twitched, showing his curiosity and he shared a curious glance with Ranma. She shrugged back at him and followed after Nihlus as he moved over to stand before the holographic projectors towards the back of the room. Once the three of them stood close to the projectors they sprang into life with the occasionally flickering three dimensional images of the Council.

"You wished to speak with us, Councillors?" Nihlus spoke first, straightening up as smoothly as he could manage.

"Yes Nihlus. A matter has been brought to our attention that requires your skills in discretion." the turian councillor began.

"I see." Nihlus nodded. "The details of the mission?" he prompted.

"You're aware of the human colony on Eden Prime are you not."

"Eden Prime, one of the first and most successful of the human colonies. Regarded highly for its pristine, Earth-like greenery and suitability for sustaining life. It has become a kind of symbol for humanity's ability to create functioning colonies in the interstellar community. However, it is close to the borders of the Terminus Systems and so maintains a fair armed force to fend off possible pirate attacks." Nihlus quickly rattled off, showing his knowledge of the planet.

The turian councillor nodded his satisfaction with that answer and turned towards Anderson. "Captain Anderson, would you care to explain the situation to Nihlus. After all, your people did find the artefact."

Nihlus cocked his head slightly in interest at hearing the word artefact. He immediately thought of only one type of artefact that could cause the Council to be asking for his discretion in obviously protecting. "This artefact is of Prothean design I take it?"

"Yes." Anderson confirmed as he quickly typed something into the console near him. Another holographic image appeared, showing a needle-like construction half buried in the ground. "A recent archaeological dig discovered this dormant Prothean beacon. I don't need to explain to you how important this discovery is."

"What's so important about it?" Ranma asked as she wondered what it was. Anderson paused a moment as he realised Ranma didn't know and he had to explain it after all.

"Well, the last time humanity discovered one of these beacons, it jumped our technology forward two hundred years and brought us into contact with Citadel space." Anderson explained, carefully wording his explanation to avoid mentioning the first contact war. "These beacon's often hold small caches of data, Prothean designs for crafts, weapons and other technology. This one...is more than just a small cache of data. Who knows what sort of technology is stored within it. It could be the biggest discovery for centuries. Which makes it very valuable."

"Which is why it is to be transported to the Citadel so all our species can study and learn from it." the turian councillor added.

"Indeed. This is fantastic opportunity for all of us to learn more of the mysterious Protheans." the Salarian councillor added.

"Why're they mysterious?" Ranma wondered.

"The Prothean's vanished over fifty thousand years ago and no one knows why. They were the ones that built the Citadel and the mass relays. Without them, none of us would have gotten much further than the edge of our own solar systems. We own them a great deal." Nihlus explained.

"Wow! That's a long time ago." Ranma whistled before looking confused. "But I thought the asari built the Citadel. You said they built the lifts." Ranma remarked and Nihlus winched in embarrassment as the asari councillor spoke.

"No Ranma Saotome, we only discovered the Citadel. Why did you believe that?"

"Ah, just 'cause Nihlus said you guys are never in a hurry."

Nihlus gave an embarrassed cough into his fist. "That was a joke Ranma."

The asari councillor must have seen the funny side of that comment as she gave an amused look towards Ranma before continuing. "I believe we should hurry this meeting along as our Spectre may be getting impatient."

"Very well." the turian councillor remarked as he cast a sour look towards Nihlus, probably due to him making turians look back in front of the other council members or maybe due to what he had to say next. "The Council must congratulate humanity on their choice to let this knowledge be shared among all species and not kept to themselves, which was in their rights as the discovery was on a human owned colony." he didn't sound happy despite his congratulatory words. "Nihlus, you are to watch over the human's handling of the beacon and assist in its transportation to the Citadel. The Alliance are handling the logistics of this mission and the Council believes their suggestion of using the prototype vessel, the Normandy, due to its stealth and speed capabilities is an adequate plan."

"This mission should be performed quickly, quietly and as soon as the possible." the salarian councillor added.

"Agreed. We look forward to your *swift* completion of this task." the asari added with a faint smirk before the communication channel closed and the images vanished.

Nihlus turned to give Ranma a dour look. "Thanks." Then to the captain. "I'd like a copy of the details to study while we're in transport."

"Of course." Anderson replied. "I'll transfer all the information we have to your computer."

"And a scheduled departure time?"

"We're scheduled to leave Earth at twenty hundred hours, today. The Normandy's crew has been assembled and all have arrived on the Arcturus Station and are awaiting their first mission. We'll be the last to join." Anderson explained the details to Nihlus.

"Are we leaving tonight?" Ranma piped up.

"Ah...if Nihlus is wishing to take you with us." Anderson answered carefully with a furtive glance towards the turian Spectre. "But really, we should only be gone a few days at most. And there's really no need for you to get dragged across the galaxy for a simple retrieval mission. It would be...err, dull."

"Oh. Really." Ranma answered with a snort as she didn't for one minute believe Anderson's motives. She addressed Nihlus. "Do I come along?"

"I'd like you there. That way I can continue evaluating you. But it's up to you." Nihlus replied smoothly while already knowing Ranma's answer. It meant he could keep an eye on her and didn't trust her to be left alone with the Alliance. Mainly because he suspected if the Alliance tried anything they might just lose a base or worse.

Ranma smirked in triumph at Anderson who just calmly ignored her expression. "Very well. I'll sort everything out."

"May I request a suitable set of armour for Ranma, Captain?" Nihlus asked. "I'll send you the details of make and model I think would suit her very well."

"Of course. I'll have it requested to be on the Normandy for our arrival." Anderson made a note on his computer.

"Armour? Pfft! Who needs armour when you're as tough as me?" Ranma laughed with her hands behind her head.

"Can you breathe in space?" Nihlus asked. "Survive toxic environments or extremes of temperature?"

"Well...temperatures I can." Ranma realised what Nihlus was getting at.

"Yes, I'm sure you can keep yourself from freezing or burning up with your ki but even you must have a limit." Nihlus folded his arms as he spoke. "Why waste your energy on doing that when a basic armour set could do it for you?"

"Training?"

"Personally, I'd conserve my strength for battle rather than use it on things that can be assisted with."

"I dunno. I still remember how Mr. Tendo had to take an attack because he was wearing heavy armour and couldn't run away to avoid it." Ranma slowly said with a finger to her chin. "I mean *that* was embarrassing for everyone involved. And armour could get damaged and then it's useless. Better to not have to rely on it."

"I see." Nihlus stated as he began to think he understood where Ranma was coming from. "I wouldn't worry about that. I don't think you'd need anything more than a light set. Your insane speed is your greatest asset and I'd like you to keep it that way. Besides, it's a precaution. You never know when you could be blown out an airlock."

"Oh. Does that happen a lot?"

"It has been known to."

"And it definitely won't get in my way?"

"I can assure you the armour I chose for you will suit your skills." Nihlus reassured Ranma. "Now go gather up all your stuff ready for the flight. I want us to be prepared well ahead of time."

"Right." Ranma nodded and quickly left the room.

Once Ranma was gone, Nihlus straightened up from the slight stoop he had been in and turned to Anderson. "I trust you won't get in the way of letting Ranma go on this mission?"

"No." Anderson shook his head. "I've said my piece and know the pair of you are both too stubborn to back down." The captain paused a moment as he studied Nihlus and then pointed out. "I thought you had been hurt in your training earlier?"

"I had." Nihlus stated. "But my armour's medi-gel dispensers had anesthetised the area and hurried along the healing process. I had planned on seeing if Ranma changed her approach towards a wounded opponent, hoping to catch her unawares. She is a little too compassionate at times and naively blunt at others. I'm working on correcting those flaws, as they're a liability on the battlefield, but it'll be a long process."

"That's good. I had noticed that about her as well. I hate to think what might have happened to her if she hadn't run into us."

x-X-x

Arcturus station, the largest and first of the Alliance bases of operation outside of the local cluster orbited the large red dwarf sun that gave the station its name. Arcturus was a star in the final stages of its life. Hundreds of Alliance ships; mainly made up of the Fifth Fleet sat in the blackness of space nearby the station, ready to mobilise in minutes to defend the mass relay in case of invasion. If anything wanted to attack Earth it had to come through the local relay first.

Inside, millions of stationed Alliance personnel went about their jobs as usual, but for some the day was going to mark the start of a new era.

Commander Jane Shepard walked down the bustling corridors, occasionally having to step aside for workers carrying large equipment on floating platforms, or the odd station-rat, the endearing term the children born and raised on the station had garnered.

For some reason she chose to stop and admire the view out of the large windows that ran along the corridor. Even though she had seen it before, the sight of the docks below, with the many ships docked for repairs or being built always inspired a sense of pride in just how far humans had came in the last few decades. She turned her green eyes and swept her auburn hair behind her ear to get a better view of the fully suited miners and their bots working away on one of the massive asteroids that looked as if it had struck and stuck to the side of the Arcturus station, but had actually been shipped in due to the lack of raw materials in this section of the galaxy.

Remembering she had a meeting with her captain, Shepard turned away from the view only to have to jump back as a young red-haired girl almost ran her over as she raced along.

"Hey! Be careful! There's heavy equipment being moved around here! You could cause an accident!" Shepard called out after the girl.

"Sorry! I'm on a mission!" the short girl shouted back as she spun around while continuing to run backwards to shout and then quickly spun again to face forward before vanishing around a corner.

"A mission? Kids and their games." Shepard chuckled at the thought of the girl playing space marines or something. With a shake of her head she pushed the girl from her mind and carried on. She soon made her way to the meeting room Captain Anderson had requested her to go.

Shepard opened the door and stepped inside the room. The meeting room was a round room with a series of chairs spaced around either side in two segments of the circle and a break at the top and bottom to allow access to the chairs. The wall facing the door Shepard had entered had a vid-screen that currently showed a view of the Normandy sat in the dock. There was plenty of last minute activity going on over there as technicians went about their work.

"Commander Shepard." Dr. Chakwas greeted, looking up at the noise of the door opening from where she sat in one of the chairs.

"Doc." Shepard nodded in greeting as she scanned the room for possible attackers, out of habit. "The Captain's not here yet?"

"Not yet, Commander." The older woman replied.

Shepard shrugged and moved over to the doctor before sitting down in the chair next to her. "Well, it looks like just the two of us. Did the Captain say how many were coming?"

"No. He just requested my presence for a meeting." Chakwas replied, a thoughtful look crossing her motherly face. "That usually means something important has come up."

"I take it you know the Captain?" Shepard asked. She was curious, knowing that Captain Anderson was well respected among the Alliance. "This is my first time serving under him."

"I've served under the Captain on many a mission. He's a good captain. Knows when to let the crew have a little slack and when to crack the whip."

"Interesting." Shepard ferreted that little bit of information away for later. Before she could ask anything else the door opened and Anderson came striding in. The captain stopped before the two women.

"At ease Commander, this'll just be an informal meeting." Anderson said as he saw Shepard was going to stand. Anderson took the chance to sit in one of the chairs opposite. He bent down with his elbows resting on his knees and hands held together with his chin touching them. "I expect you're wondering why you were asked to come to this meeting."

"I can't say I am not, Captain." Shepard replied.

"The answer to that is simple, really." Anderson explained. "As you're aware, the construction of the SSV Normandy is a joint Alliance / turian project overseen and helped funded by the Council. It is an opportunity to allow old wounds to heal and bring greater co-operation and understanding between our two species. So far it's been a pleasant success."

"To further on this goodwill, we've got a second project that ties very closely with the first."

"I take it this has something to do with us Captain?"

"You'd be correct in thinking that. Have you by any chance heard about recent events on the Citadel?" Anderson turned to ask as they continued through the cafeteria and back into the corridors.

"Can't say I have." Shepard shrugged.

"I heard some rumours about a human getting into the Spectres." Chakwas sounded uncertain, as if she thought the possibility of that was impossible.

"Those rumours are partly correct." Anderson's reply caused the two women to glance at each other in surprise. "I'll start at the beginning. For the last few years the Alliance has been working alongside a turian Spectre, Nihlus Kryik, to get a human candidate into the Spectres. This effort has recently been approved by the Council and Nihlus is currently here beginning to train up a candidate he himself chose. This training will actually be a two way deal. Nihlus is training and being trained by his candidate."

"Nihlus? I know him; he introduced himself to me earlier today." Shepard stated with a frown as she suddenly had the suspicious Nihlus hadn't just wanted to make friendly chitchat.

"I suspect he did." Anderson said knowingly. "He's expressed interest in your survival on Akuze."

"Oh...Even the turian's know about that? I'll don't think I'll ever get used to this." Shepard rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly.

"Surviving a thresher maw attack on foot is not something many can boast of. That sort of thing is bound to spread." Anderson complimented.

"So the Alliance has gotten a human approved for the Spectres?" Shepard quickly moved the subject away from herself, not wanting to think on that particular day.

"Yes, this brings us to why you both were called here. We need someone to make sure Nihlus isn't pushing or asking of too much from a human. Shepard, you're to oversee and take part in the training to ensure nothing untoward happens to the candidate."

"I see. So I'm to make sure the training doesn't go too far or get out of hand. What's our candidate like?"

"Now, that's the interesting thing...she is quite...unusual." Anderson admitted mysteriously.

"How exactly is she...unusual?" Chakwas asked.

"She's sixteen. Has no family, nor does she have much recollection of the world as it is today." Anderson's words made Shepard frown but she waited for him to finish. "She seems to have been dumped alone onto the Citadel with a series of faked memories. She's a little...odd at times and we hoped that someone like Shepard could help by being able to relate to her." Anderson spoke to Shepard. "You know how hard it is to be alone with everything you knew gone at her age."

"Okay. I can see how I got that job." Shepard frowned. "But why this girl? If she's had her head tampered with, why would the Alliance want her trained for the Spectres? I hear things about them. Throwing a young girl at them who's just lost everything isn't exactly the way to a stable soldier or someone capable of passing the requirements for the Spectres, whatever those might be. Sounds to me as if the Council are setting her up to fail."

"I agree, but the Council overruled us on this, and as it's such a big deal even getting a candidate approved for candidacy for the Spectres...well, let's say the top brass grudgingly accept the situation."

"What level is her training? If she's sixteen she can't be that well trained yet. Will I be going through the basics with her then?"

"Yes and no." Anderson replied.

"I don't understand Captain." Shepard frowned as she leant forward.

Anderson sighed before speaking.

"This is where it gets strange. To be honest with you, she's an amazing fighter. Good enough to be teaching her form of fighting to a Spectre and vice versa. A hand-to-hand specialist the likes I've never seen before."

"Hand-to-hand? That's an odd specialisation. There can't be many scenarios where that can be useful."

"That's what I thought at first. That is until you see what she can do. She combines these martial arts skills with a very powerful biotic-like ability. She explained it as being able to manipulate her body's own energy. Don't ask me how, but all the tests so far show it as being real." Anderson held up his palms to show how baffled he himself was. "Which is why you're here Doctor."

"Biotic-like you say?" Chakwas leaned a little forward. "I take it this manipulation of energy has never been seen before."

"Yes and that's the part that has everyone up in arms." Anderson stated before getting out of his seat and pacing before them. "I won't lie to you to either of you. This is big! This girl represents something startling and has the potential to completely shift the balance of power in the galaxy, if even a fraction of what she claims capable of is true. And believe me, she has shown some startling powerful abilities."

"Such as?" the Doctor prompted.

"She's strong. Fast. And scarily durable. She jumped out of an Alliance base tower and landed without a scratch." Anderson stopped pacing. "We also have eyewitness reports of her going toe-to-toe with a krogan and throwing him around as if he was nothing to her."

"Modified genetically? Or implants?" Shepard asked, immediately thinking about ways a human could achieve those feats.

"Nothing we can detect."

"I find that hard to believe Captain, but you aren't one to play jokes." Chakwas stated.

"All the collected data on her will be available to you to study while on the Normandy, Doctor. The Normandy's medical scanners are top class so I'd like you to study her as much as possible while we're on our mission." Anderson told the doctor.

"Understood."

"I take it by all this fuss over her that I'm to be a bodyguard." Shepard surmised.

"Correct. Even though she is capable of defending herself, we can't allow her to be hurt until we understand her capabilities. Like I said, she has a very strong biotic-like ability. We say biotic-like as many of the effects she can produce are similar, but unlike biotics she has had no exposure to element zero, nor does she have implants, like yourself. In her own words, it's all training and she's been training to do these feats since she could walk."

"I...see." Shepard replied slowly quickly putting together exactly why she was here. A natural born talent for biotics without the use of implants to boost the nervous system signals was so far thought to be impossible. And this girl may just have it.

"We want you to look after her. Teach her the ways of the world and temper her enthusiasm for charging headfirst into danger."

"So basically, I'm to be big sister Shepard." Shepard semi-joked.

"If that's what it takes to gain her trust and keep her safe Commander." Anderson nodded. "I needn't remind either of you this information is on a need-to-know basis."

'Although, I doubt it'll remain hidden for long when Ranma blurts this stuff out.' He thought.

x-X-x

Ranma's slow jog came to an end as she stopped in the corridor running down the docked Normandy and stared out the massive, thick planes of glass into the bay. Her eyes studied the layout and which routes were in use by the personnel working on the advanced blue and white frigate.

'Now that's a much cooler looking spaceship than those other ones.' Ranma thought to herself while turning away from the sight so she could look down to the access area she had to go through to reach her target. Access to the bay holding the Normandy was through a large opening that could be sealed off in seconds by a kinetic barrier. The entrance was almost large enough for the ship inside to be squeezed through in a push, if you didn't mind scuffing the paintwork. The armed guards who monitored the entrance would stop anyone carrying equipment in or out of the bay to check their details.

Ranma leaned back against the glass and watched the traffic going in and out, waiting for the best moment to move. She could have just ploughed past the guards and got to her goal, but Nihlus had set the rules. She had to get in with as little noise as possible. The moment she was waiting for presented itself when two of the three guards were busy checking a pair of trolleys with crates going in.

Ranma's purposeful stride switched to an unsure gait and she peered around in faked nervousness as she approached the free guard.

"Excuse me miss, but this is a restricted area." The guard, a tall man of around thirty stopped Ranma as she approached. "You got business here?"

"Um...well...my Pops is in there..." Ranma mumbled while pushing her index fingers together in a nervous gesture.

"Huh huh." The guard hummed as he had heard that excuse before from the kids on the station trying to sneak into the construction areas before today. He had pretty much made up his mind that this oddly dressed girl, in her blue Chinese styled sleeveless shirt with white ties on it was trying the same stunt. Probably some of the other kids had put her up to it, judging by her nervousness. "What's his name? I'll ask but you'll be in trouble if he isn't here you know."

"You will?" Ranma acted hopeful. "It's Dr. Soatome."

The guard took his eyes off Ranma for a second to type the name into the computer interface on his arm. This was all the time Ranma needed to disappear faster than most people could follow, leaving behind only the whistle of displaced air moving to fill the now empty position.

"Nice try...?" the guard looked up to where Ranma had been merely a moment before as a cold draft blew past him. She was gone. "What the heck?" he glanced about, before spinning in a circle, searching for the oddly dressed girl he knew couldn't have gotten out of sight in the second he had glanced away.

Above the guard Ranma chuckled to herself as she stood with her back to the wall on the small ledge at the top of the entrance way. Below her she could see the guard looking around in confusion. With a final smirk she fell forward, pivoting with only her feet on the top of the ledge. She went under and back up on the other side, let her feet come free and went into a spin in the air before grabbing the ledge on the other side of the entrance and flipping herself up onto it, landing in a crouch.

"Sucker." Ranma grinned and made a note on the computer interface, describing the ease she by-passed the guards. She was starting to get the hang of the computer thing for taking notes. "Now, gotta get into the Normandy and get proof I was onboard, all without getting caught by the guards."

Ranma looked for the best way across the bay and decided that crawling along the cranes near her would have the least chance of being spotted. With a powerful thrust from her legs she leapt across the distance to the bright yellow frame of the crane that ran on tracks up and down the bay. Then like a demented koala bear, she hung underneath the frame and scurried along until she could drop silently onto the top of the Normandy. She then ran across the top of the frigate and jumped down to ground level.

'If you want to sneak into somewhere busy, the best way is to look like you're supposed to be there.'

For once, Ranma thought her father's advice would come in handy as the Normandy's docking bay doors were open and the bay itself was full of people going about their business. Ranma calmly walked up the ramp into the ship and moved towards the lift at the front. Nobody paid her any attention, mistakenly believing that anyone who got into this area was meant to be there.

Ranma was soon standing on the lift and about to press the up button when a voice called out.

"Hey! Hold the lift a moment!" a man pushing a floating trolley picked up his pace as Ranma did as asked. He slid the trolley on and sighed. "Thanks."

"No problem." Ranma replied hitting the button for up. The safety rails smoothly rose into positing and with a jolt the lift began moving slowly upwards. When they reached the next level and stopped with another small jolt Ranma said jokingly to the other occupant. "Did we co-develop the lifts with the asari instead of the turians?"

"Haha! Nice one. Gotta remember that." The guy chuckled as he pushed the trolley off. Ranma waited a moment to let him depart before stepping off. If she remembered the plans correctly this deck should contain the mess hall and medical area. She walked around the lift and ignored the stairs, hoping some of the cutlery in the mess hall had some marking that labelled it as property of the Normandy to prove she had gotten in. She was disappointed to find the area deserted and empty of any item to swipe. Spotting a couple of lockers by a window she moved over and rummaged through them which turned up nothing as they were empty at the moment.

"Aw well." Ranma sighed shutting the door and then raised her head to look through the glass into the medical room. She could have taken something from there, but there seemed to be a couple of technicians working inside. She'd come back here if she couldn't find anything else for proof.

There was the sharp snap of shorting wires and a holographic panel switched on across the room behind Ranma, followed quickly by quiet swearing. The panel flickered and a line of static would slowly sweep down it at a constant speed.

Ranma wandered over curiously and leaned around the console to see the abdomen and legs of a man as he lay on his back and worked away underneath the console. A bunch of tools lay to his left and after a moment he began blindly reaching for them and just missing with his fingers.

"C'mon, where are you?"

"Here ya go." Ranma said as she placed the nearest tool into the man's hand.

"Thanks." Kaiden Alenko's muffled voice called up as he quickly went back to work. After a moment he realised he didn't recognise the voice and pushed himself out from underneath the console to see who it was. He was greeted by the sight of Ranma leaning sideways around the console with her hands on her knees.

"Whatcha doing?" Ranma asked with a couple of rapid blinks.

"I'm trying to get this panel working properly."

"Oh."

"Who are you anyway?" Kaiden asked sitting up.

"I'm Ranma." Ranma grinned. "Hey! You wouldn't have a souvenir I can take home?"

"A what?" Kaiden stared for a moment. "I don't think you should be in here. How'd you get in?"

"Walked up the ramp and used the lift." Ranma stated the obvious.

"Err, you know you could get in big trouble being here." Kaiden climbed to his feet. Ranma's eyes followed his as he rose to end up looking down at the short red-head.

"Really?" Ranma pretended to be shocked.

"Yeah really. Tell you what, I'll take you back out if you want and we won't mention this. What do you say?" Kaiden offered.

"But I really need to get a souvenir. Something that says I was on the Normandy." Ranma pulled off the cute and pleading look. Kaiden glanced around, unsure what to do.

"Well...this is a military ship. There are no souvenirs."

"I just need a little something." Ranma looked at Kaiden's tools. "Do they have something that says they're part of the Normandy?"

"These? No they're mine, plain standard tools. And *no* you can't have them."

"Tck. Is there anything onboard I could have?" Ranma tried again.

"No. Everything here belongs to Alliance. So no. Really." Kaiden ran his fingers through his hair. He really didn't want to call the guards to drag this Ranma away and get her into big trouble, but he needed some way to convince her to leave. "Say. If I give you these sweets will you go away?" Kaiden asked pulling a tube of mints out of his pocket to bribe her with. Next thing he knew Ranma had swiped them out of his hand and was popping one out the top with thumb. It spun into the air and she caught it in her mouth.

"Thanks for the mints, but no way. I need a souvenir."

"I hadn't given them to you yet." Kaiden stated flatly to the red-haired mint thief. He then sighed. "Look, you really need to leave now."

"What'll you give me to leave?"

"What?" Kaiden stared in growing annoyance. "Okay...fine. I'll buy you a sundae or something."

"Make it a super double sized and you got a deal." Ranma's eyes sparkled.

"...Fine." Kaiden agreed. "Will you leave now?"

"Yup." Ranma nodded and wandered off, leaving Kaiden blinking in surprise that that had worked. After a moment he raced after her to make sure she was leaving.

"Ranma!" he called as he got around the corner to where the lift down to the cargo bay was. "Ranma?" he asked again uncertainly as he couldn't see her anyway as he looked around the area and even up the stairs. After a moment he gave up searching and scratched his head, wondering if he had just been the butt of an elaborate prank. Kaiden walked away, and from the darkened recesses of the non-panelled ceiling above the stairs Ranma dropped down to the stairs.

"Nobody looks up." She muttered and typed that into the computer in her bracer before heading up the stairs. The door at the top slid opened as she approached and allowed her access into the bridge. The area was a bustle with activity. People moved around, checking readings off the various panels around the large holographic map of the Arcturus cluster. To the sides, various sized cables ran from the walls and haphazardly across the floor, waiting to be declared working so they could be hidden behind panels.

Because of the activity in this area, Ranma reactivated her computer and walked around with the interface up and occasionally pretended to be using it. She kept her eyes open for anything she could swipe that would prove absolutely she had been onboard. She spotted plenty of loose panels or tools or cables that she was certain no one would miss but nothing had any markings that completely proved they were from the Normandy.

Ahead of Ranma, the ship tapered in, making the walkway become narrower and to either side were chairs and computer interfaces. A couple of technicians worked away on fitting the last couple into place while Ranma looked around and tried to decide what she should do next.

"Excuse me. Slow load coming through. Outta the way."

Ranma turned towards the voice and stepped to the side when she saw the man on crutches making his way carefully up the cable strew walkway. He had a beard and wore a baseball cap in addition to the standard uniforms Ranma has seen everywhere.

Jeff "Joker" Moreau carefully made sure his crutches were safely positioned between the cables before taking a step over them. While the Normandy was in construction he had to use the crutches because of all the tripping hazards, normally he'd just hobble slowly up the isles without having to rely on them.

Ranma watched him struggle past her, getting over a particularly thick cable.

"Need a hand?" she asked, trying to help.

"Do I *look* like I need a hand?" Joker asked testily and turned to glare.

"Err..."

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Joker turned to move forward again, but paused for a moment as something struck him as odd. He turned back to Ranma and looked her up and down before leaning against his crutches and placing a hand on her head to make sure she was actually as small as he thought.

"Oi!" Ranma ducked away from Joker's hand.

"Wow, who let the midget onboard?"

"Hey!"

"I'm a *little* confused here." Joker smirked down at her.

Ranma's eye twitched.

"Who let the cripple onboard?" she snapped back.

"Is that the best you got? Little midget girl?" Joker laughed, before pointing at her shirt. "Nice shirt. Love the little bows. Trying to be cute?"

"What? No!"

"Sheesh! And is that a pigtail? My god it is a pigtail! I don't think I've seen any girl older than five with one of those."

"Hey! Pigtails are cool!" Ranma unconsciously pulled on her pigtail.

"No. Being the best damned pilot in the Alliance, who I might add is standing in front of you, and flying the most advanced ship in the Alliance is cool. You? You're just silly."

"Take that back!" Ranma stamped a foot as she leaned close to Joker's face and cracked her knuckles.

"Ooooh! I'm shaking! I'm shaking! What you going to do? Beat up the cripple? Yeah, that'll prove how tough you are won't it?"

"I..." Ranma trailed off as his words struck true. Her sense of honour wouldn't allow it, and it seemed he had figured this out as well.

"Aww, don't feel too bad at being out manoeuvred by the sickly dude in a match of witty barbs. We can't all be the best." Joker smirked before pulling off his cap and sticking it over Ranma's head, which ended up covering her eyes and blocking her vision as he pulled it downwards.

"Oi!"

"There. There. Have a present to hide that ugly haircut." Joker patted the temporary blinded martial artist on the head like she was a child. He turned and continued to hobble away as Ranma yanked the cap off her head. "See ya shorty." He waved back without looking her way.

Ranma growled and was about to tear the cap in half when the lettering caught her eye. It read 'SSV Normandy'.

"Hahaha!" Ranma suddenly laughed holding the cap up to the light. She finally had something even if it had come from that annoying, over-confident jerk. Now she just had to sneak away.

x-X-x

The door to the small observation room that looked out towards the star Arcturus from the Arcturus station slid open and Ranma stepped inside twirling the cap from Joker around her finger. By the large window, leaned Nihlus who stopped the timer on the stop-watch program running on his portable computer.

"You're back. Thirty two minutes. Sixteen seconds. No alarms." Nihlus stated as he looked over.

"Piece of cake." Ranma held out the cap, making sure the writing was visible. "Got it from the pilot."

"From Joker?" Anderson asked from the bench he sat on.

"Arrogant beardy crippled guy?" Ranma inquired.

"That would be him." Anderson sighed. "I guess from your tone of voice you two didn't hit it off on the right foot?"

Ranma pulled a disgusted face. "So, did I pass?"

"Perfectly." Nihlus nodded. "Although I still need you to enter a report on how you got in and a detailed dissertation on how to prevent further breaches by someone as trained as yourself."

"Blreagh!" Ranma stuck her tongue out. "This is too much like schoolwork."

"Get used to it." Nihlus said. "The Council likes its detailed reports."

"Nihlus. I've sent the message. Everyone that needs to know should arrive soon." Anderson stood up as he addressed the Spectre.

"Good."

Ranma walked over to Nihlus while putting the cap on her head backwards and adjusting it as she spoke. "Did you have fun stalking your girlfriend?"

"Very funny." Nihlus responded dully. "I wasn't stalking her at all. If we met it was coincidence."

"Umm hmmm." Ranma hummed.

Soon the main crew of the Normandy began arriving, each saluting the Captain before he had them take a seat. Commander Shepard, Navigator Pressly, Doctor Chakwas, Engineer Adams, Staff Lieutenant Alenko and finally hobbling in last, Flight Lieutenant Moreau.

Joker actually paused when he spotted Ranma stood by a turian who he had no idea was.

"Good. Everybody needed is here." Anderson said loudly as he took up a position in the front of the room, standing almost centre to the window looking out. Nihlus and Ranma remained to his left with the turian held his hands behind his back and stood proudly. Ranma leaned back against the wall.

"Hey, any idea why the midget is here?" Joker asked in a whisper as he slid stiffly into the seat beside Kaiden.

"No idea. I'm surprised to see Ranma here." Kaiden whispered back.

"Ranma? What weird name." Joker muttered.

"You all may be wondering why I've called this meeting." Anderson began. "As you all know, you've been chosen to serve upon our first of hopefully many successful vessels co-designed and built with the turians. The SSV Normandy is the most advance vessel of its type in the Alliance and I'm proud to say that the crew, all of you were handpicked for this post because like the ship, you're the best at what you do."

"Our first mission is to be a simple shakedown run. We launch tomorrow at oh eight hundred hours and will be heading to Eden Prime. There we are testing the stealth systems on approach and picking up some cargo for transport to the Citadel. This is going to give the ship a proper run out, so be on the lookout for anything that isn't working correctly."

Anderson paused a moment to look over to Nihlus. "This brings us to why there is a turian here. This is Nihlus Kryik. He is here on Council orders to watch over the mission and report on our performance to the Council. He is also a Spectre."

Anderson was pleased that the crew were disciplined enough not to burst into idle speculation at that announcement, although eyes did widen as they turned to the Spectre.

"I expect you and your teams to treat him with the same respect you give me. Any orders that come directly from Nihlus are at the same level as my own."

"I'm merely an observer on this mission. I don't plan on giving any orders as such." Nihlus spoke up.

"But if he does they are to be obeyed." Anderson confirmed. "Now, the last order of business is to introduce Ranma Saotome." Anderson pointed to Ranma.

"Yo." Ranma raised a hand in greeting to which there were a few curious stares.

"It's fair to say you may be confused as to why she is here. Ranma has been in advanced training since she was five-"

"Since I could walk." Ranma corrected.

"Since she could walk." Anderson repeated. "Nihlus was impressed by her skill and has agreed to be her mentor as she trains to become a Spectre. The first human Spectre."

"Holy!" Kaiden hissed in surprise as he never expected anything like that. Shepard just folded her arms and waited, making sure she didn't glance towards the doctor or give any other indication she knew of this.

"Oh...shit..." Joker quietly muttered as Ranma turned to stare at him while twirling the gun he hadn't seen she was holding in her hand.

x-X-x

The phantom, eerie noises that Sovereign produced were joined by the echo of carefully paced footsteps as Matriarch Benezia moved through the insides of the Reaper. No longer did the feeling of being observed unnerve her as she now knew what was really there. Sovereign. Her master.

What did unnerve her now was Saren. The turian Spectre had changed, or been changed ever since Sovereign had made his presence known to her almost four weeks ago. His new, strange abilities and the uncanny knack at which he could tell where she was almost at all times made her nervous, or strangely she wondered if it was Sovereign that felt nervous about the Spectre and it filtered through to her. His instructions to not let Saren know she knew were strange coming from something as powerful as the Reaper.

As she came closer to where Saren was, the sounds of fighting began to be heard down the tunnels. Soon, Benezia stopped by one of the side tunnels and waited patiently just out of sight and looked down into the large open area Saren was using as a makeshift arena. Even she had to stop and stare in awe as the Spectre fought against the group of geth and cloned krogans.

The sound of gunfire was almost deafening as the entire squad sent round after round at the turian. Saren stood calmly in the centre of the concentrated firepower, his shields flashing and crackling with red energy from the intense and continuous onslaught. Benezia felt herself tighten her grip on the wall as Saren stood and almost seemed to be laughing under enough firepower to shatter any normal kinetic barrier produced in the last hundred years.

He slowly turned towards one of the geth and without any warning just walked quickly right up to it and shot it point-blank in its flashlight like face, bypassing its shield by the range. The other geth took that as a signal to begin moving. They quickly backed out of the Spectre's direct path and tried to take cover among the corded structure of the walls.

A thin red laser target flashed across the room and rested on Saren before the retort of a geth Hopper's sniper weapon went off and was harmlessly blocked by Saren's impossibly strong kinetic barrier, even while he was still under a constant barrage by the other opponents in the area.

Saren unclipped a grenade from his waist and threw it in the Hopper's direction, which forced the lightly armoured but incredibly quick machine to spring away from the wall it was attached to. The geth Hopper cleared the area before the explosion went off, however another close-by geth was knocked off its feet and one of the cloned krogans stumbled out of the way, momentarily stunned by the blast.

Saren was turning before the explosion, knowing exactly where the Hopper had been and what direction it would be forced to relocate towards. He braced his legs and in a burst of speed rushed across the area before leaping into the air. He and the Hopper collided mid-air allowing him to grab it be the throat and pull it back to the ground with him.

He landed with knees bent and smoothly straightened up holding the struggling Hopper off the ground with a single hand. The turian lifted the Hopper higher still before slamming it down, hard and fast into the metal floor, and before it could escape his grasp he pinned it with one foot, pressing hard enough to bend in the Hopper's chest. Saren brought his pistol down and stuck the barrel to the Hopper's glowing lens-eye before pulling the trigger.

"Hmph." Saren muttered as he straightened up, still under fire from the remaining geth. A roar behind him made him calmly turn to face the cloned krogan that had been caught by the blast. The krogan had shook off the effects and was charging head down like a rhino towards the Spectre.

The cloned krogan's charge came to an abrupt halt as he ran into the open palm Saren had raised. Saren held the krogan back easily as he struggled to make the lesser built turian move.

"For all that physical size you still don't know what true strength is." Saren stated in a superior tone of voice. The clone pulled back after realising he couldn't over power the turian and took a swipe at Saren's face with his shotgun. Saren leaned back enough to avoid the blow, making it look easy, before he powered forward and slammed a fist covered in red crackling energy into the krogan's chest.

The clone bellowed in agony as Saren's fist punched through the toughened armour as if it weren't there and deep into the clone's chest.

"One heart down." Saren stated as his fingers closed around the krogan's primary heart and crushed it. Orange bodily fluids ran in rivulets down Saren's arm and dripped to the floor. The clone hissed through clenched teeth and grabbed Saren's arm with both hands to hold him in place. Then the clone reared his head back in an attempt to head-butt the turian, hopefully to death.

Suddenly the back of the clone exploded outwards, spraying the area behind in gore and fluids as a red blast of energy shot across the area and caught a surprised geth in the chest that was using the krogan as cover to sneak in close. The geth was knocked onto its back by the blast.

"Useless." Saren stated pulling his arm free of the corpse and letting it drop to the ground under gravity. The Spectre held his bloody fist up and stared at it with his unblinking glowing cybernetic eyes, all the while the remaining geth continued to take pot shots at him which were deflected by his shields.

"Enough!" Saren exclaimed and the geth immediately ceased firing. The remaining cloned krogan took a few seconds longer to stop. "This is no longer a challenge to me." he muttered in a disappointed tone.

Saren lowered his fist and flicked some of the fluids off his arm. "Dispose of the body and repair them." Saren pointed at the closest geth which clicked in confirmation and immediately moved off to go about its assigned task.

"I take it you have something to report, Benezia." Saren said loudly without having looked in her direction once during the battle and so couldn't have seen her approach. Once again she was reminded how Saren could unnerve her.

She smoothly stepped into the light behind the Spectre and stood in an 'at ease' stance, not letting her body language betray her. Saren didn't bother to turn to her and calmly waited for her to speak.

"We've intercepted a triple encoded message from the Alliance." Benezia informed the Spectre. "It's taken the geth a while to break the encryption."

"Go on."

"The humans have informed the Council they've discover a Prothean relic on Eden Prime. A working relic. It may be -"

"A beacon." Saren finished having already guessed. "Interesting. The humans are actually sharing this information?"

Benezia didn't answer the rhetorical question. "The Council's reply message contained instructions for a nearby Spectre to assist in the transportation of this relic to the Citadel for study."

"Nihlus." Saren turned his head enough that he could see Benezia over his shoulder.

"Correct."

Saren chuckled a dark humourless laugh. "And wherever Nihlus goes, so will that girl." he turned his head to face forward again. "Set a course for Eden Prime. I want to be there before they arrive."

"Are you certain that is wise? Attacking a colony ourselves is risky."

"It won't be a problem if there are no survivors." Saren stated darkly. "We'll be doing the galaxy a favour eliminating these vermin, and getting the Beacon as well as destroying that girl? Two targets with one shot."

"As you wish." Benezia turned and left. For a while longer Saren stood and thought about facing that girl again. This time he would show her the real power granted by a god.

"There's only one organic that can challenge me now." Saren stated as he crackled with red electrical energy that arced around his armour. "I'm looking forward to breaking her."

End Chapter

Well, sorry it took so long, this chapter went through three rewrites as I worked on the plot to figure out how to make this fic stay away from just following the adventures of the Normandy crew just with the addition of Ranma. I'm not totally happy with it as it's a little dull with all the setting things up.

Anyway, Ranma's slowing beginning to suspect something isn't right with how s/he believes s/he got we s/he is.

Next chapter shouldn't take as long (and probably won't be as long either as I'll just keep that one to what goes off on Eden Prime). Things are planned to deviate from there on. After a long (sorry again) think about the changes that would happen if events don't go the same way on Eden Prime, I think I'm happy which direction the fic will take.

I'm stuck in the back-of-beyond with very limited internet so if I get a thousand and one reviews again I'll never get chance to read through them all :P

OMAKE TIME

"Stupid girl body...does it always have to do all this weird stuff to me? No wonder girl's are weird if they can't trust their bodies." Ranma grumbled as she decided to help along the recovery so she would not have to explain or acknowledge she had hurt herself to anyone.

Ranma carefully lowered herself to the floor and folded her legs underneath herself, with a wince at pulling on the bruised one. Then she began to breathe slowly and steadily as she focused on her body and speeding along her already quick recovery powers. She calmly eased her internal energies along to the damage and took her time in feeling out for anything else that was wrong with her.

Her meditations on her internal energies showed nothing odd. Everything seemed to be as it should. Her body felt that it was her own cursed form, everything was in the right place for it. Her ki felt the same as her natural form.

"What the hell?" Ranma suddenly snapped her eyes open in surprise. "I'm...I'm...I'm pregnant!"

XD


	6. Chapter 6

Wild Effect 6

The midday sun was hidden by a low cover of clouds, filtering the light and bathing the docks with a calm dusty red glow. Dockworkers moved about their business, transferring goods onto the trains or unloading them. With the low cloud cover and warm temperature the humidity was high today. Powell took off his olive green cap and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm.

"Phew, warm today." He muttered to himself as he replaced the cap. He stifled a yawn and took a quick look around the area. He had been working for almost an hour and needed an excuse for a break, or a nap. Unloading fertilizers for the crops grown in the vast fields the docks overlooked was hard work and he deserved a break.

Powell wouldn't call himself lazy, but nothing ever happened on Eden Prime and there was no real hurry to have the trains loaded so he moved back to the shaded area near the rear of the docks where the bracing struts were. He grabbed the large crates and dragged them around a little, giving him a nice shaded area out of sight to sit back and relax in. He had used this trick many times before to catch a couple of hours rest during work.

Soon he was laid against the cool metal and hidden in the shadows behind the crates. Nobody ever looked here and so he could rest a while in peace. He was soon beginning to doze off when a noise disturbed him back to wakefulness.

Powell frowned at the noise of a ship flying in low and fast.

"Damned pilots." He muttered suspecting it was another one of those cocky fly-boys who found it amusing to bring their ship into dock by flying low over the buildings and rattling the windows. He tried to ignore it, but the raised voices from nearby made him nervous.

Then it happened. There was a whump and an explosion as something smashed into the ground with a lot of force followed by shouts and screams as more and more impacts occurred. Gunfire began spewing from around the area as the sound of more ships flew past overhead. More explosions went off in the distance.

Powell jumped to his feet in fear and looked out from behind the crates to see ships of unfamiliar origin darting across the sky like metal insect and firing indiscriminately at the buildings, not caring if people were caught up in the attacks.

"Oh shit! Oh shit!" Powell whispered in terror as he knew for certain this was an attack. It wasn't just an attack he realized as hundreds of the dark shapes flitted by, taking pot-shots that shock the area. It was a full on invasion.

A noise ripped across the sky, rumbled through the ground, and for Powell, it felt like it had shattered his skull. It was hideous, a wailing incoherent grinding noise that bored though his mind and scattered his thoughts in terror. He let out a wail himself and clamped his hands over his ears, but that did no good whatsoever as the noise continued unabated.

Then it appeared. All he could do was stare as if hypnotized as five massive, claw-like metal fingers broke through the lower cloud cover, crackling with red lightning as they descended like the vengeful hand of God reaching down towards the earth. It was a huge ship. An impossibly large ship, as long as the tallest towers in the distance were tall. The entire planet seemed to quake in fear as the monster descended, casting a terrifying shadow across the land. Powell knew nothing that big was supposed to be able to land on a planet, it should have collapsed under its own weight once it came under the influence of gravity. But it didn't, seemingly breaking all the rules of physics without remorse.

The small defensive fire trailed away as anyone nearby was affected by the terrifying noise or sight of the monstrous ship blotting out the light. The crops in the field below the reaching fingers of the ships blackened and then vaporised in seconds as it dug into the ground. Even the earth itself melted under its power, turning black and cracking, melting and running like lava from a volcano. With a final deep, distorted whale-like noise the ship settled on the ground, like a tick on a dog while energy continuing to crackle around it.

Powell suddenly realised the explosions had started again, or maybe they hadn't ceased and he had been unable to hear them because of the noise from the ship.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!" he swore as he ducked down out of sight as the screams began again. He held his hands over his ears and curled up as small as possible as the noises of death and destruction continued around him unabated. He prayed to anyone that might hear him to get away alive.

For what seemed like an age he hid and listened to the noises of battle as they grew less and less frequent. Every so often the feeling of having your mind ripped through the middle would pulse through the area and it took all his will not to scream out in terror and pain. Then it grew quiet and slowly his thoughts began to clear as the noise in his head faded.

In the distance the familiar sound of the train docking was heard. Powell turned around on his knees and slowly peered over the top of the crates. He saw figures marching along the dock, robots of an unknown make and model. They spread out over the area, some carrying a round object with a tripod base, other dragging struggling or weeping people along with them.

Powell watched in silence, keeping hidden as the robots began fortifying the area against attack. Then he saw him. A powerfully built turian came striding across the dock. Powell didn't have to guess this guy was the leader as there was an aura of power and purpose about him, even the way he moved spoke of it.

"The dead ones are useless to us. Burn them." Saren commanded his geth forces. They immediately dragged off the unmoving bodies and dumped them in a pile, then set them alight. Powell gagged as the oily smoke was swept over his hiding place by the wind.

"You turian shithead! What do you want from us?" a restrained marine managed to shout off.

Saren turned with a dark look in his eyes as red energy crackled along his armour. He walked over to the human and backhanded him, shattering his jaw in a single blow and knocking him unconscious from the force. Saren stared for a moment as if contemplating what he had done and then turned to look right at Powell. Powell gasped and ducked down, wanting it to be impossible that the turian had seen him. Light footsteps approached and Powell shook in terror as the turian was right on the other side of the crate.

"Hmm…I thought I saw a rat." Saren muttered as if making to leave. Then he slammed his hand into the crate and lifted it away. His other hand shot out faster than Powell could react and grabbed him by the throat. The terrified dockworker was dragged to his feet as Saren tossed the heavy crate across the area where it landed with thud on the dirt beyond the dock.

Powell struggled to draw breath and clawed at the turian's hand as he found himself dragged across the dock as Saren held him tightly.

"I sense three more life-forces cowering away in that hut over yonder." Saren pointed up the hill. "Bring them. Then continue sweeping the area for survivors. I want all useful humans collected and brought here before nightfall." Two of the geth moved off to do that.

"What do you want?" Powell managed to stutter out.

"I want nothing better than to wipe your worthless kind from the galaxy. But Sovereign has a use for your…life." Saren stated with a growl.

"L-life?"

"Hmm?" Saren leaned in close to study Powell. After a moment he nodded. "You'll do." He turned to the geth. "Proceed with conversion."

Saren indicated with his head and the geth dragged the unconscious marine over to the tripod they had set up. They held him over the device and then to the horror of those humans watching the marine was impaled through the chest, as the device changed and grew into a tall spike, lifting the body into the air as it went. Some screamed in terror and Powell felt his face drain of all colour. Strangely the spike seemed to drink up the blood from the wound as none dripped down it. The body twitched.

"Consider yourself lucky human. I have another use for you." Saren rumbled.

x-X-x

The SSV Normandy, 21 hours earlier.

Kaiden Alenko glanced up from his meal as a shadow crossed the table before him.

"Hey guys." the beret wearing Jenkins greeted as he slid his own tray onto the surface and sat down beside Joker. "Mind if I join you?"

"Sure. Make yourself a home." Kaiden replied while across from him Joker muttered under his breath, "As if we have a choice." It wasn't as if the pilot had anything against Jenkins, it was just at that moment anyone with limitless enthusiasm wasn't high on Joker's list of things he wanted to deal with.

"This post is getting better and better all the time!" Jenkins stated tearing a chunk off his bread and dipping it in the soup he had.

"How's that?" Kaiden asked casually.

"Being assigned to the Normandy, the most advanced ship in the Alliance under *the* Captain Anderson?" Jenkins spoke quickly and waved his bread around excitedly. Across from him, Joker grimaced as a stray blob of Jenkins' meal landed on his cheek. While the pilot wiped the wet speck off Jenkins continued, almost without stopping for breath. "And Commander Shepard! She's amazing. I can't wait to go into combat with her."

"I'm sure the Commander will be happy to hear that." Kaiden remarked tactfully.

"Yeah right." Joker shook his head and continued to poke at his food.

"What? You don't think she'll be happy to hear that?" Jenkins directed the question towards Joker.

"I think what he's meaning, is we'll not be seeing any combat on our first flight." Kaiden said as he sent Joker a 'ease off the kid' look.

"Yep. That's *exactly* what I meant." Joker sassed.

"Damn, and I was looking forward to proving I can handle myself in front of the Commander." Jenkins sighed taking a few bites of his bread. Even Kaiden had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes. Jenkins soon perked right back up. "So what do you guys think about having a Spectre on-board? I heard he took out an entire squad be himself one time! Isn't it awesome?"

"Sure is." Joker responded. "If you like having to watch your back every second. Spectres are trouble."

"I'm sure he's just here to keep the Council informed of their investment." Kaiden supplied.

"The girl or the ship?" Joker wondered aloud.

"Oh yeah, that Ranma!" Jenkins nodded. "Now she's freaking lucky. The first human in the Spectres. God what I'd give to be in her shoes."

"She's in training for the position." Kaiden corrected.

"That's as good as being in already. They say if a Spectre takes you under their wing you've as good as joined. You wouldn't even think she was capable of it just looking at her would you?"

"Well, it seems like it's all been planned for a while now. Commander Shepard did confirm Ranma has been in training since she could walk." Kaiden leaned back in the stiff chair. "Wouldn't put it past the top brass to have had her chosen at birth."

"Like destiny or something? Born to be a Spectre. How cool is that?" Jenkins tried to imagine how awesome it would be to born into that.

"It's not as cool as it sounds being picked for the military just because you're born different." Kaiden stated with just a hint of bitterness in his tone.

"She still has to be amazing. Wonder if she'll hang out with us grunts?"

"Yeah right." Joker snorted, drawing two curious expressions from the other two at the table. "Someone hand-picked and groomed from day one isn't gonna be hanging with us lowly peons."

"Ignore him." Kaiden said as he saw the surprised look on Jenkin's face. "He's only bitter because he insulted a Spectre in training and is now fearing for his life." Kaiden joked, amused by Joker's plight.

"No I'm not." Joker stated pointing his fork towards Kaiden. "Someone like her, who's obviously had the best of everything, be it training or opportunities, is gonna be a stuck up so-and-so."

"You can't know that." Kaiden responded with a disgusted shake of his head. "For all you know she might be the nicest person around."

"Sure she could be. I'm certain a nice person like that would fit right in with the Spectres. You know, people who can do anything or *kill* anyone and get away with it just because the Council says so? Just saying." Joker shrugged.

Kaiden was about to reply when the very person they were talking about rounded the corner behind Joker carrying her own tray, followed closely by Captain Anderson, who seemed to be showing her where she could have her meal. Ranma glanced around for a moment before her eyes settled on Kaiden. She gave him a smirk and began to move over to them.

"Yeah, that Ranma has to be a right hard as nails, cold as ice, psycho." Joker continued on obliviously. A look of horror crossed Kaiden's face for a second before he quickly shook his head in an attempt to warn Joker. Ranma must have heard as her eyes narrowed dangerously during her approach.

"She's going to be a Spectre and does the whole cute kid act?" Joker switched to false high-pitched voice. "Hey, look at me! I'm so cute and girly and innocent. I wouldn't hurt a fly." Joker went back to his normal tone. "Then she shoots you. In the back. Gah! It gives me the creeps already just thinking about it."

Kaiden grimaced as Joker continued to dig himself in deeper.

"And like I said earlier, she's gonna be stuck up. I mean she was hand-picked and groomed for the Spectres since birth. Not like everyone else in the crew. Some of us had to fight tooth and nail to claw our way up the ranks and prove we're the best at what we do. Not like her, who must have had everything given to her and…" Joker trailed off at the sudden drop in temperature around him and noticing for the first time since beginning his rant that Kaiden was holding a hand to his forehead and shaking his head gently. "…she's right behind me." he finished lamely.

"Joker. Meet me in the conference room. I'll speak with you there." Anderson intoned darkly causing the pilot to wince and palm his face.

"Ah don't worry about it." Ranma said as she slid into the seat beside Kaiden and put her tray down.

"Are you sure Ranma?" Anderson asked to which she waved him off. Joker looked up surprised.

"It's nothing. I've had a lot worse things said to my face before." Ranma smirked. "Besides, we can't *all* be the best."

"Yeah…we all can't." Joker replied with a forced laughed as Ranma used his own words against him.

"Lieutenant, would you look after Ranma for a while as I'm going to be tied up with last minute preparations." Anderson addressed Kaiden.

"Sure Captain."

"Good. We leave in less than a day and I need everyone at their stations and working together. I expect professional behaviour from here on out." Anderson directed that towards Joker before he moved off, leaving the table in silence.

After a few uncomfortable moments Ranma broke the silence.

"Geez you guys are quiet." She stated thumbing the cap she still wore to make it easier to see. "Want your cap back Flyboy?"

"Nah, keep it. I got plenty." Joker stated pointing at the plain navy blue one he now wore.

"You're really not upset at him?" Kaiden asked.

"My Pops used to call me worse while training." Ranma stated. "He also used to throw me out the window on a morning to." She added in remembrance. Kaiden and Joker exchanged a confused and mildly concerned glance.

"Hey Ranma! You don't mind me calling you Ranma? You gotta be awesome to get into the Spectres. Can I have your autograph?" Jenkins quickly blurted out.

"Huh?" Ranma looked confused for a moment at the enthusiastic young man. "I guess so?"

"Sweet! I'll get a pen and paper for you sometime." Jenkins grinned happily. "Say, what's it like being a Spectre? The vids make it look awesome."

"They're also not real you know. Movies." Joker pointed out.

"I'm not a Spectre. I'm really a martial artist. It's just Nihlus thinks I can pass easily and it gives me an excuse to stay outta the Alliance labs." Ranma added.

"Labs?" Kaiden blinked.

"Yeah. They're like so amazed by my ki they wanted to lock me up and study me." Ranma grumbled as she began eating.

"Ki?"

"Yeah. They keep comparing it to bio-tacs without those thingies." Ranma shrugged and pointed at the back of her neck.

"You mean biotic implants?" Kaiden guessed what she meant.

"Yeah, those. I don't have em and all my skills are from hard work and training my Pops put me through." Ranma paused. "I mean, I ain't even met a bio-guy."

"Bio-guy?" Joker snickered and pointed out. "There's a bio-guy sitting next to you."

Kaiden groaned as he knew Joker would now be using that term for him from now on. Until he found a more annoying one.

"You're biotic? Finally!" Ranma grinned. "Wanna spar? I want to see this biotic stuff."

"I don't think that's a good idea. I wouldn't like to hurt you." Kaiden remarked.

"As if!" Ranma snorted.

"Aww go on bio-guy." Joker grinned.

"You can throw me across the room if you want. Last time was awesome!" Jenkins offered.

Kaiden groaned and held his forehead as he leaned against the table. "You know what the Doc said last time we did that." He looked over at Jenkins hoping to prevent another lecture on safe use of biotics and they weren't a toy to show off with, even thought Jenkins have been the one who begged to find out what it was like being attacked by a biotic.

"Come on. Show me what you can do." Ranma said looking hopeful. "It's that or that sundae you still owe me."

"Fine." Kaiden relented and made a motion towards the salt shaker on the table. The air seemed to ripple around it as if it were being distorted and the shaker lifted into the air. "There. Happy?"

"Neat." Ranma leaned in and studied the effect. "You gotta teach me that one."

"If you aren't biotic I can't. You're either born with the ability or not."

"What else can you do?" Ranma looked back to Kaiden.

"I could push it away to strike an enemy or pull it to me. I can also do barriers and warp gravity to mess up shields." Kaiden picked the shaker out of the air and put it down after cancelling the effect. "So what can you do?"

"How's this?" Ranma held her palm up and created a ball of ki very close to Joker's face, almost touching his nose.

"Whoa!" Joker backed away in his seat having not expected something like that created right in front of his face. "What the heck is that?"

"It's my ki shaped into a blast I can throw." Ranma smirked at the uncomfortable look on Joker's face as he didn't take his eyes off the energy sphere.

"Cool! How much damage does it do?" Jenkins asked.

"However much I want. I could probably smash through the ship if I tried. Normally I just put enough into them that it's like a strong punch." Ranma released the ki blast against the wall across the room, which landed with a thud, just as if someone had thumped the hull.

"That's definitely…different." Kaiden remarked after a moment. 'I can see why the Alliance wanted to get you in a lab.' He thought bitterly to himself. 'Almost the same as what happened to us biotics when we were first discovered. Given the choice back then, I'd jump at joining the Spectres instead as well.'

A beep from Ranma's wrist bracer surprised her for a second before she remembered what it meant. She raised her arm and pressed on the section that activated the communicator.

"Hey Nihlus." Ranma greeted knowing it could only be Nihlus.

"Ranma, could you come down to the cargo hold. I've unpacked your armour and you need to fit it." Nihlus's voice came through, distorted to sound tiny by the speaker.

"Right, if I have to." Ranma replied and stood up.

"I'll go with you." Kaiden followed. "The Captain wanted me to stay with you."

"And I've got important things to do. Like fly the ship that everyone's lives depend on." Joker commented getting up himself.

Ranma and Kaiden walked around to the lift and got in and went down to the cargo hold. They quickly spotted Nihlus standing towards the rear by a series of lockers.

"Where's this armour?" Ranma asked as she couldn't see any.

"It's in your locker." Nihlus seemed to be smirking from his body language. He indicated the locker with a claw. "That one."

Ranma eyed the tall turian suspiciously for a moment before shrugging and opening the door. She stopped dead at the sight of the armour that was covered in bright white plating on top of a pink flexible weave. Her eye twitched as she turned to glare at the turian.

"What the hell is that?" Ranma asked icily.

"Your armour." Nihlus stated as if he hadn't caught her tone of voice. "Well? Aren't you going to try it on?"

"This is cause I threw you off that roof ain't it?" Ranma intoned.

"Roof?" Kaiden blinked and leaned around to get a look at the armour.

"I have no idea what you mean." If Nihlus could have whistled he probably would be at that moment.

"Nice. Phoenix armour. That's better than our standard issue stuff." Kaiden remarked.

"I'm not wearing that!" Ranma snapped.

"Why not?" Kaiden looked surprised.

"It's pink!" Ranma exclaimed with a stamp. "Do I look like the token girl outta a sentai show?"

"Ranma, I had to pay good money for that armour for you, seeing as you don't have much in your own account yet." Nihlus told her, emphasising certain facts.

"But it's pink!"

"I thought you Spectres got all the best training and equipment." Kaiden looked at the Spectre.

"We have *access* to the best stuff. But we have to pay for it out of our own funds. That's why the Council turns a blind eye if we have to hire ourselves out as mercenaries or even keep illegal items we just so happen to find." Nihlus explained.

"It's pink!"

"That's…I never expected that." Kaiden shook his head in surprise at that revelation.

"It's a grey area I'll admit."

"Pink!"

x-X-x

Powell was exhausted, he was terrified, and he had been awake over twenty hours as the geth had restrained him on the dock. Even though he was tired, he was too afraid to allow slumber, and the geth holding him on his feet all day left his ankles sore and swollen. His legs ached constantly, and his pleading to be allowed to sit had gone unheard by the synthetics. His mind was becoming sluggish, his thoughts mired in a tarry haze of aches and fear.

He had seen the horrifying fate that had befallen the people of Eden Prime. Those that died in the attack had gotten off lucky he thought after seeing what happened to the others. Their gurgled screams as they were impaled on the spikes the geth used, would haunt him forever. But it got worse as he realised they were being drained of nutrients as the bodies shrivelled and were changed by some process that left them dried out husks fitted with glowing electric blue cybernetic implants. Worse they seemed to still be conscious for a while as it happened.

When done the spikes would retract and the husk would pull itself off and stand around, groaning like some sort of zombie. Then they would march down to the train and leave. Powell didn't know where they went and didn't want to know. All he wanted was this nightmare to end. Soon, there was just him, his geth guards, the last remaining husks still impaled and the turian. His mind kept trying to imagine why he hadn't suffered the same fate as the others. It came up with many terrifying scenarios.

Shortly after the attack had finished, Powell had witnessed the geth transporting the unearth Prothean beacon that had been the only thing anyone had talked about for the last few weeks. They moved it onto the train and it to vanished along with the husks and geth. Powell cursed the day it had been found as it was the reason they had been attacked. The turian had remarked to that effect as well.

"These sixty-four hour days are strange. And there's still nearly ten hours of daylight left until nightfall." Saren suddenly stated. Powell kept silent, not daring to say anything. When the human didn't reply Saren just turned away and ignored him.

"You're a monster." Powell finally found his voice. Saren glanced back over his shoulder before turning.

"Oh?"

"Attacking us to steal that beacon is one thing. B-but to do that to people…this is pure evil. Only a monster could do this without being affected!"

Saren felt a sharp stab of guilt pass through him for a moment but he kept his face neutral through years of practise.

"You might as well be one of these robots." Powell sighed close to tears from everything that had happened.

"I have orders." Saren responded as if that relived him of blame.

"And that makes it right?"

"You don't understand!" Saren exploded, crossing the distance between them in a blink of an eye. He grabbed Powell by his jaw and leaned in. "I have no choice! You have no choice! The galaxy has no choice! If we don't do this all of us, *everyone* will be extinct! They're coming and if we aren't useful, we'll be discarded!"

For a moment Powell was terrified, but then he resigned to situation and declared quietly. "If this is being useful, kill me now. I don't want it."

Saren felt his scarred and rebuilt mandibles flex in surprise at the way the human spoke. Why couldn't he see this is all for the greater good? 'But is it?' he thought looking towards the impaled husks. 'Is he right? Is death better than this?' self-doubt reared its ugly head once more. 'Am I a monster?'

"A ship has just passed through the relay." Sovereign's voice spoke in the Spectre's head causing him to flinch away in surprise. Powell stared as Saren stepped away and began having a one-way conversation with something Powell could not hear and he realised without a doubt this turian was insane.

"At last. They should arrive soon." Saren nodded, focusing his attention on the task at hand and missed the convenient timing of the Reaper's interruption. He would have time later to think, for now only the mission mattered. "Can you tell if she is on-board?"

Sovereign was silent for a few seconds. "Yes."

"Then it's time to begin."

"You waste time, Saren." Sovereign sounded displeased. "You could have acquired the co-ordinates by now."

"You tasked me with eliminated that girl and getting the beacon. We have the beacon and soon I'll eliminate the girl and get those co-ordinates."

"You have had time aplenty to activate the beacon."

"And you yourself said it was for a prothean mind and didn't know what effect it would have on me. I need to be one hundred percent when facing her." Saren argued.

"Your pride could cost us Saren. I care not she bruised your ego." Sovereign rumbled. The ground shook slightly as the giant ship let it's annoyance be known.

"But you know she can sense you. She is dangerous to your plans. This is the best way to get rid of her." Saren replied. "I complete my missions my own way. Have I failed yet?"

Sovereign didn't reply and Saren took the silence to press on with his plan. "Did you do what I asked?"

"You presume too much of your position." Sovereign stated darkly.

"My plan requires your assistance, Sovereign. That is all I ask for."

"It is done." Sovereign answered after a thoughtful pause. "Do not fail me."

Saren turned to the two geth holding the bait. "Send out that broadcast and take this snivelling wreck to the dig site."

The geth clicked in confirmation and began dragging Powell away.

"What are you going to do with me?" Powell rasped dryly.

"I'm sending an invitation for an old friend." Saren stated ominously.

Powell was dragged along by the two geth, away from the small space-port and up the hill beyond to where the scientists had once worked near to the dig-site. His legs felt like lead and jelly at the same time, causing him to stumble over the rough ground at the brisk pace set by the geth. Whenever he stumbled or didn't manage to lift his feet successfully, they just dragged him along, his boots leaving trails in the dry earth. The place was deserted, debris littered the ground and the doors of the huts smashed open. Powell could image the terror as the geth had smashed the doors open and dragged out anyone inside as they were sent to be impaled, drain and transformed into husks.

They moved past the huts and down the exposed path between old white walls of Prothean design and came to a halt at the dig site. They stood in eerie silence and Powell glanced around. Fear ate at him as he looked for whatever hideous torture device the geth planned to use on him. There was nothing but old shaped stonework and the empty pedestal from where the beacon once sat.

Powell wasn't sure how long he was held before it happened. The geth's head to his right suddenly exploded in a shower of plastics, metals and white synthetic fluids. Powell reacted in shock, yelping out in surprise as he was sprayed with the fluids of a dying geth. The one on his left turned, slowly as if not caring and this time Powell heard the shot. The second geth suffered the same fate just under two seconds after the first. The bodies fell away from him and Powell collapsed to his knees, unable to support his own weight.

A figure dressed in white armour cautiously moved into view from the nearby forest, moving like a trained solider, checking around as it made its way over to Powell. As the figure came close, Powell realised it was a human female. She grabbed him by the crook of his arm and pulled at him, urging him to stand.

"C'mon, get up. We need to get out of sight!" Ashley Williams hissed quietly as she pulled on the exhausted dockworker.

"Y-you're human!" Powell managed to find his voice.

"Yes! And we're both dead if we don't get into hiding!" Ashley snapped and gave up trying to pull him up. She crouched down and dragged one of Powell's arms over her shoulder and helped him stand that way. "C'mon!"

They moved back to the forest at a half run, half stumble. Ashley led them deeper in and then seemingly at random stopped and let Powell down to the forest floor. He leaned back against a tree, closed his eyes and just breathed deeply. He didn't dare believe he had rescued. The day had been like a nightmare and he still hoped to wake up in the morning and find it all just a dream. Finally he gathered enough energy to crack open his eyes to look at his rescuer.

"H-how, did you escape them?" Powell asked. "Their leader, a turian, he's got some strange power. He knew where people were hiding."

"Dunno about a turian. After the attack, my team tried to circle back around to protect the beacon. We got ambushed and scattered. I don't know what happened to the…rest." Ashley explained as she looked around the tree for signs of pursuit. "We're not safe here."

"We're not safe anywhere. I saw what they did to everyone…" Powell whimpered.

"Calm down. We got a message off to the Alliance during the attack. We'll be rescued, don't you worry." She gave Powell a reassuring smile and then went back to watching for the rescue that she knew was coming. It was inevitable.

x-X-x

Ranma stood scowling in the cockpit of the Normandy with Nihlus as the turian watched Joker pilot the Normandy towards the mass relay. She hadn't said a word to Nihlus since he guilted her into the abomination that served as so-called armour. She kept tugging on the plating that felt uncomfortable from never having had to wear something like it before. Kaiden sat in the second seat and was checking the readouts of the systems as a double check to Joker.

Shepard had stepped into the cockpit just as Joker took them through the relay. Ranma found it dull as there was nothing to really see or even feel as the ship was accelerated far beyond any conceivable speed and then slowed down at the other relay.

"Thrusters…check. Navigation…check. Internal emissions sink engaged. All systems online. Drift…just under fifteen hundred K."

"Fifteen hundred K is good. Your captain will be pleased." Nihlus nodded his approval before turning to leave, satisfied he had seen enough. For a moment he wondered if he should take Ranma with him to the planned meeting with Shepard to explain certain truths, but decided it would be better to leave her with Kaiden, seeing as they seemed to be getting alone. She needed more human friends he believed.

"I ha-" Joker began to say when he remembered Ranma was there, finished lamely. "Love that guy."

Kaiden glanced over at Joker with raised eyebrows. "Right. Of course you do."

"Okay so I don't." Joker admitted. "It's just having a Spectre on board is trouble. No offence."

"Why's that?" Ranma asked, speaking for the first time since exiting the cargo hold.

"Because he's paranoid." Kaiden explained. "The Council helped fund this project. They have a right to send someone to keep an eye on this investment."

"Yep. That's the official story. But only an idiot believes the official story." Joker glanced towards Ranma. "You any idea what we're doing here?"

"Picking up some Prothean thing for those Council guys." Ranma shrugged. "I'd have stayed in Tokyo if I knew it'd be this boring."

"Prothean?" Joker and Kaiden mouthed silently followed by Joker licking his finger and marking a one in the air. Kaiden rolled his eyes.

"That answers why a Spectre is on a shakedown run." Shepard commented, adding her opinion.

"Joker. Status report." Suddenly came through the speakers.

"Just cleared the mass relay, Captain." replied Joker. "Stealth system engaged. Everything looks solid."

"Good." was Anderson's response. "Find the nearest comm buoy and link us into the network. I want mission reports relayed back to Alliance brass before we reach Eden Prime."

"Aye, aye, captain. Better brace yourself, sir." Joker warned. "I think Nihlus is headed your way."

"He's already here, Lieutenant." Anderson replied with a distinct note of irritation in his voice. "Tell Commander Shepard to meet me in the comm room for a debriefing."

"You get that, Commander?" Joker asked.

"He sounds upset." Shepard remarked tactically before she left.

"Is it me, or is the captain always in a bad mood?" Joker pondered aloud.

"Only when he's talking to you Joker." Kaiden answered.

Ranma moved around the cockpit, still annoyed at Nihlus's revenge and bored at the trip. Nothing interesting was going on. Even Joker and Kaiden where no longer chatting and just worked away silently. After five minutes of looking around Ranma decided she'd leave and go hunt out something else to do. Maybe head down to the cargo bay to practice.

"Hmm? Getting a transmission from Eden Prime." Joker suddenly stated as one of the screens near to him lit up. The first images and sounds were of gunfire and people running. An explosion shook the ground and a female voice shouted out.

"Get down!"

The person behind the camera was pushed onto the ground and lost focus for a while as more explosions hit and more gunfire went off. A marine suddenly appeared in front of the camera.

"We are under attack," he yelled. "Taking heavy casualties. I repeat, heavy casualties. We need-" His words were drowned out as something exploded close by. "Evac," he continued. "They came out of nowhere. We need-"

Then a long drawn out warbling sound, like some accent leviathan waking up was heard and the soldiers in view all looked up slack-jawed and stopped firing as something dark descended from the clouds. Then the video cut off, breaking up into static.

The three in the cockpit shared a look and Joker quickly opened the comms to Anderson. "Captain! We've got a problem!"

"What's wrong joker?" Anderson's response crackled over.

"Transmission from Eden Prime, sir. You better see this." Joker told him.

"Bring it up on screen."

Joker did as asked and the video replayed again. Once finished Joker added. "Everything cuts out after that. No comm traffic at all. Nothing."

"Reverse and hold at thirty eight point five." Anderson demanded. Joker quickly typed in the commands which brought the image of what appeared to be a ship onto the screen. Energy was caught in mid-leap as it arced between the finger-like appendages on the front. Whatever it was, nobody recognised it.

"Status report." Anderson snapped.

"Seventeen minutes out, Captain. No other Alliance ships in the area."

"Take us in, Joker." Captain Anderson commanded. "Fast and quiet."

x-X-x

Saren sat on top of the jumbled pile of crates in front of the row of impaled husks, like some alien version of Vlad Tepes and waited, constantly flicking the safety on his gun, on and then off. Around him a few fires burned, one of them the pile of dead bodies that were of no use to even Sovereign. He ignored the smell of charred flesh and stared across the dock. The row of dragon's teeth behind him continued to work away at converting the impaled former humans. Whatever nutrients and life-energy Sovereign wanted had been drained from the impaled victims while at the same time nanotechnology converted the remains into a husk, the zombie-like creations useful as shock troops for Sovereign to direct.

'Waste not. Want not.' Saren thought bitterly.

The sound of a ship's engines broke the strange calm that had fallen over the planet after all the remaining humans had been killed or converted. Saren looked overhead as the ship passed by, noting the shape had ancestry in turian ship designs. He waited for confirmation.

"Saren, you were right. The geth have spotted that girl among the group that landed." Benezia's voice came over his communicator a minute later.

"As was expected." Saren replied. "Pull all the geth back. I'll deal with them myself while you get the beacon on-board."

"As you wish."

The channel went silent and Saren went back to waiting, knowing the only way anyone could pass to the main docks where the beacon had been transported was through here. And him.

x-X-x

"Stealth systems fully engaged. Beginning our descent planet-side." Joker's voice called over the comms throughout the Normandy, letting the crew know what was happening.

"Set your comms to channel eleven, Ranma." Nihlus told her as the martial artist stood beside him and checked her own weapons as Nihlus wanted, while he did his own.

"Kay." Ranma clipped the handgun to the magnetic holster on her leg. As she was setting the channel the ship lurched slightly and she looked up at her turian mentor.

"We've just entered the atmosphere. Nothing to worry about." Nihlus reassured her. "When we land, you and I will scout ahead. I want radio silence unless I need to relay information. Remember the hand signals. Ready?"

"Ready." Ranma nodded.

"Good. We'll exit first." Nihlus moved to leave.

"Looks like someone's been doing some serious digging." Joker's voice came over their comms again as he flew the Normandy towards the clearing out of sight of the docks which they were unable to dock with while the massive, presumably geth ship sat nearby. That was when Ranma first felt it. She stiffened up and Nihlus noticed.

"What's wrong?" the Spectre asked.

"I…I don't…know. Something doesn't feel right." Ranma stared in the direction she felt the impossible ki she was sensing. Nihlus was never one to ignore a gut-feeling and so he gave Ranma a moment to elaborate further. She didn't. Only continued to frown at something he couldn't see.

"Come on. We need to retrieve the beacon." Nihlus said moving quickly towards the Normandy's ramp as the hull doors opened. Dust and wind blew in through the open doors, stirred up from the downward thrust of the Normandy's engines as the ship went from moving forward to hovering.

"Hey Nihlus!" an armoured up Jenkins called over as he saw the Spectre and Ranma. "You're coming with us?"

"Ranma and I can move faster with just the two of us. We'll scout ahead." Nihlus said as he jogged past, followed by Ranma. They jumped off the ramp and landed the six feet down where the ground was. Nihlus straightened up, but Ranma stumbled as she was hit full force by the alien and unbelievably powerful ki.

Nihlus caught her stumble from the corner of his eyes and paused as the pigtailed girl went pale as she turned and faced towards the docks in the distance. Ranma took a few steps closer and had to stop.

"No way…" Ranma whispered staring wide-eyed into the distance. The massive ki pressed down on her even from such a distance. Alien. Ancient. Intelligent. And now, it seemed aware of her as a definite killing intent was levelled at her. She swallowed reflectively and for once if asked she might have admitted she was scared. So shaken was she that she almost missed the feeling of cold fingers trying to probe her defences, trying to claw at her own ki. Ranma quickly pulled her ki in and took a tight hold of it, forming a shield of sorts against the probing intelligence.

"Ranma! What's wrong?" Nihlus shook her out of her stupor.

"Can't you feel that?" Ranma asked. Her eyes showed her worry as she looked up at the turian.

"Feel what?" Nihlus glanced around in an effort to find what had Ranma spooked.

"How can you not feel that? It's enormous!" Ranma exclaimed. "It makes Herb look like a drop in the ocean."

Nihlus paused and thought for a moment. Whatever it was Ranma was feeling had the girl shaken, he could see it in her eyes. The way she was describing it made him frown in concern. If Ranma was to be believed, and so far she seemed to true to her word, that this Herb could destroy a mountain…

"Any idea what it is?" Nihlus prompted.

"I…dunno," Ranma frowned. "I'm sure I've felt it somewhere before." Then as if a light bulb had turned on in her head she snapped her fingers. "Saren! It's what I felt from him!"

"Are you saying that's Saren?"

"No. Not Saren. But he had to have been near to this…ki for me to sense it on him." Ranma trailed off and stared into the distance again. "What are you?" she whispered. As if in answering or proclaiming a challenge the ki pulsed with dark intent.

Three thumps behind them signalled the landing of Sheppard and her team of Kaiden and Jenkins. Nihlus turned to them and quickly changed his plans based on the way Ranma was acting.

"Change of plan, Shepard. We'll stick together." Nihlus explained to the Commander.

"Okay. What's brought this on?" Shepard asked.

"Something isn't right." Nihlus turned away to look at Ranma, who still stared off into the distance. "Ranma! Are you capable of continuing on, or do you need to return to the ship?"

"I'm coming. I need to know what that is." Ranma declared. She took another moment to gather her composure before turning back to Nihlus. "Let's get this over with."

The group moved off at a quick pace. Nihlus taking point. They passed up a slope and out to an area with a winding path that led up to a group of tightly packed trees. Boulders sat at random on the hill. They made it up without incident. It was quiet.

"I'm seeing a lot of burnt bodies. But no hostiles." Nihlus stated as they reached the top of the hill.

"I don't like this. Feels like a trap." Shepard stated having the same thought.

"Agreed." Nihlus replied. He quickly ran through their options. "Ranma, can you sense anyone alive?"

"There's too much of that other ki around making it hard to pick anything out. And I'm having to hold my own tightly cause it keeps poking at me. Whatever it is, it knows we're here." Ranma stated.

"What knows we're here?" Shepard asked.

"I dunno. Something alien is all I can tell." Ranma turned and stared into the forest.

"Are you certain? Because I can't feel anything odd." Shepard spoke her doubts.

"Trust her, Commander." Nihlus said. "Ranma's proved to me and the Alliance she can sense a nearby person's energy without seeing them. This is worrying indeed."

"Joker." Shepard paced a she spoke into her communicator. "Have you got any readings from that monster of a ship?"

"Yeah Commander, I've cross-referenced all known ships with it and come up blank. Whatever it is…it's mass effect core and shielding is off the charts. I doubt there's a ship in the Alliance that can put out that much power. Heck! Even the turians don't have anything that big!"

"We're at a tactical disadvantage." Shepard surmised. "We're up against unknowns with who knows what weaponry, and if Ranma's right, they know we're here. Plan?" she glanced to Nihlus.

"We get the beacon and we get out. We have the co-ordinates for where the beacon was found. Ranma, you can move the fastest of us. Scout the dig-site out but do not engage anything you see." Nihlus decided. "Relay anything you deem important back to us. Stay out of sight and don't take any chances."

Ranma gave a curt nod of acknowledgement and then leapt up into the tall trees of the forest in a single bound, much to the surprise of the Normandy's crew members.

"Did you see that?" Jenkins gaped to which Shepard glared and made a gesture for silence.

"Holy…" Kaiden quietly muttered.

"Sending her off alone is dangerous." Shepard rounded on Nihlus. "If she gets seen or hurt-"

"She won't." Nihlus cut her off. "Ranma's the best I've ever met at being stealthy, myself included."

"But still, she's a rookie. What if she gets killed?" Shepard pressed.

"Then she failed the Spectre exam." Nihlus stated simply to the surprise and horror of the humans at how matter-of-factly he had spoken. Shepard was going to give the turian a piece of her mind when he added. "Have faith in Ranma. If I didn't think she could do this I wouldn't have wanted her as my candidate. She'll be fine."

x-X-x

Ranma bounded between the tree branches at breakneck speeds, passing almost silently as she went. She was completely alert and focused as with the alien ki blanketing the area made sensing other living beings awkward, and the last thing she needed was to be caught unaware. As she moved her mind kept going over the feeling of the ki as something about it felt stranger than just its massive size. It felt somehow flat, hollow or maybe artificial. Then she realised why.

'It's empty. There's no emotion, just pure ki.' Ranma thought. 'Nobody has completely emotionless ki. Not the old ghoul or even Happosai could do that. Heck! Even the soul of ice makes your ki cold, not this completely empty feeling.'

Now she was even more curious as to what the alien ki was. So focused on it, she almost missed the two small ki's that she passed over to top of. Ranma quickly landed on a branch and turned around into a crouch with one hand against the trunk. She stared down at the two humans, one a woman wearing the same hideous armour she was and another in plain overalls. For a moment she studied the pair, noting the woman was a trained solider as she stood alert and held her weapon ready. She seemed to be guarding the man, who looked worse for wear. He looked exhausted as if he had just been run ragged.

"Yo Nihlus," Ranma quietly spoke into her communicator. "I've found two people hiding in the forest. One's wearing the abomination armour like me. The other looks like a factory worker or something."

"Might be survivors but could also be a trap." Nihlus's reply came back.

"I don't think it's a trap. The guy looked like hell and the woman's tired too. They're both nervous as heck." Ranma explained.

"Get to the dig site. Helping survivors isn't our top priority. The beacon is. We know where they are and can get them after we get the beacon." Nihlus stated, which caused Ranma to frown angrily.

"Maybe it's not yours, but it is one of mine." Ranma said with a hint of aggression tingeing her voice.

"Ranma-" Nihlus reply was cut short as she shut down the communicator. Ranma could easily picture how Nihlus was going to react, he'd stand there with his mandibles flared as the only sign of his annoyance and then either come chasing after her or go ahead to the beacon and let her catch up. She had no doubt he'd lecture her later but didn't care really.

Silently she dropped from the branch to the ground, landing near to the woman and quietly approached.

"Do you guys need help?" Ranma asked, ready to move it the woman went to shoot her.

Powell gave a startled yelp and turned wide-eyed towards Ranma. Ashley spun with her gun at the ready and paused when she caught sight of another human. She noticed the girl in front of her seemed young but ignored that for the moment.

"You're human." Ashley stated with relief as she lowered the gun. "Did you escape them as well?"

"Nah, I'm from the Normandy. We're here for the beacon but we saw the attack. I'm here to help."

"Hear that?" Ashley glanced at Powell and gave him a smirk. "The Alliance did send help." She turned back to Ranma. "Thank God you're here. They totally caught us off guard. How many ships did the Alliance send?"

"Erm...one?"

"One." Ashley didn't sound happy. "How many squads?"

"Just me and another four guys." Ranma stated.

"Shit! You guys don't stand a chance! There's an army of geth. You better tell your squad-mates to get back to your ship and get outta here. And that ship...something about it messes with your head. Makes it hard to think."

"You can feel it too?" Ranma asked curiously.

"Don't know what it is, but the air's been heavy since that thing landed." Ashley shrugged. Ranma nodded in thought as that description would fit if someone could sense it but didn't understand ki. So it was something on the ship that had that ki.

"Anything else?"

"They took the beacon to the main docks." Powell looked up and Ranma could see the broken look in his eyes. "Those geth. They...they killed everyone. Tortured them."

"Take it easy." Ashley told him.

"We have to get out of here. Their leader can sense people."

"Sense them? Makes sense." Ranma nodded in thought. If the massive ki was the leader of the attackers, she guessed he would be able to do that. "What is he?"

"He's...he's a monster." Powell seemed to shrink in on himself. "A turian. A big one. Covered in cybernetics. His eyes..."

Ranma hadn't met many turians, but even she knew there weren't many with cybernetics that fit Powell's description. and even less that had been in contact with this same ki she was feeling. Her eyes widened then narrowed. "Saren."

"You know who it is?" Ashley asked.

"I think so." Ranma quickly activated her communicator again. "Nihlus?" She got no reply. "Nihlus? Anyone there?"

"Ranma? That you? What's going on down there?" Joker's voice crackled through the comms with small bursts of static. "Nihlus said you cut comms and they were moving ahead without you. Then the communications went quiet."

"Ranma! Report!" Anderson demanded as his voice came over the comms as well. Ranma frowned at Anderson's tone but answered anyway.

"I've found survivors-"

"Dammit Ranma! You cut comms in the middle of a mission to peruse a secondary objective-"

"Yadda yadda old man! I've already heard this." Ranma snapped back. "What's a geth?"

"G-geth?" Anderson trailed off, caught completely by surprise and went quiet long enough to make Ranma frown in concern. "Where did you hear that word?"

"The survivors. There's an army of them here. Are they trouble?" she asked.

"Are you sure they said-"

"Yes! You think I'm stupid?"

"This is bad. Geth...the geth haven't been seen beyond the veil for nearly two hundred years. Why would they be here now?"

"They took the beacon." Ranma supplied. "They must want it."

"Damn. Joker! See if you can raise Nihlus or Shepard and warn them. Ranma, get those survivors back to the drop zone." Anderson commanded.

"Aye aye, Captain."

"There's more." Ranma said. "There's a big turian with cybernetics leading the geth. And whatever is making that ki is the same thing I felt on Saren."

"Saren?" Anderson breathed. "And the geth? But..." he went quiet as he wasn't as surprised as he should be. Saren attacking a human colony he could imagine easily, but Saren leading an army of geth? That was almost too much, but it did give him a reason to get Ranma back to the ship and keep her safe. "Ranma get back here now! If it is Saren, you're in danger."

"Captain. I can't raise anyone. The signal's jammed and the scanner's are going weirder than a krogan in a pink tutu." Joker interrupted.

"What?"

Ranma snapped her head around as another strong ki appeared. It had to be strong because she could pick it out even with the alien ki covering the whole area. She recognised it, even though it had grown stronger and darker. "It's Saren." Ranma stated. She spun back to Ashley and pointed in the direction she had came. "Can you get him to the drop zone? It's down the hill in a clearing."

"Yeah." Ashley crouched down to help Powell to his feet. "What about you? Your Captain said to get back too."

"He's not my captain." Ranma turned away, for once completely serious. "Go. I need to get some answers."

With that said Ranma shot off, racing towards the ki she knew was Saren.

x-X-x

'The air is thick with death.' Matriarch Benezia thought as she walked calmly along the metal walkway towards the beacon. In her long lifetime she had seen many a scene like this before, the results of an assault by an invading force that overwhelmed the meagre defences of a small colony. This scene would have sickened her at one time, but at the moment it meant nothing to her. Behind her and slightly to her sides, walked along two loyal and brainwashed asari commandos in their black armour, guarding her.

The geth on the platform worked on creating more husks for Sovereign. She paid them no attention and walked up to the beacon. It pulsed suddenly and glowing green tendrils of energy drifted lazily from the needle of the beacon. Suddenly she was lifted off the ground and held suspended as jumbled images of machines and death were burned into her mind. It was not a nice process, causing her head to ache like the worst migraine. Then it stopped and she was dropped to the decking.

For a while she struggled to regain her composure at the random imagery and painful headache. She raised a hand to her head and lightly rested it there before standing smoothly. The images made no sense but she had time to meditate upon them and sort them out.

"Do you have the co-ordinates of the conduit?" Sovereign's voice asked her inside her head.

"Not yet. The images are jumbled, confusing." Benezia responded. "I need time to make sense of them."

"Time is a luxury that is running out." Sovereign didn't sound happy but seemed to accept the situation. "Saren is engaging the girl. His usefulness is at an end. Make sure neither of them leaves this planet alive."

"Yes, Sovereign." Benezia bowed. Straightening up she turned to the nearest commando. "Make sure the geth set those charges for ten minutes. And destroy the control panels. They must not be able to cancel the countdown. We can't afford to let any of them survive."

With that said she turned on her heel and walked back to the floating platform that would take her back to Sovereign. As it lifted silently into the air and moved off, she turned back to stare in the direction of Saren. A sad feeling filled her chest.

"Good bye, Saren."

End Chapter

Notes:-

Ok, I was going to make this chapter cover everything on Eden Prime, but it's nearly reached 10k words and not even got to the fighting, and so I'll release it. Hope it's better if I release stuff quicker even if it means shorter chapters.

I'm slightly annoyed at those reviews that complain at this Ranma's current condition. Especially as I've had the cure for Ranma's mono-gendered condition planned since *very* early on. Interestingly enough Ranma already has his/her cure, even though s/he doesn't know it. And no one has even mentioned it yet in the reviews, which means I gets to giggle at the "serious business" that Ranma being stuck a girl for a short while elicits.

Yes I'm giving away some of the plot here with my wording.


	7. Chapter 7

**Wild Effect 07**

Nihlus took a deep breath to calm himself as the communications channel to Ranma went dead. The fact she had just disobeyed an order wasn't so surprising to the turian, after-all it was one of her best and worst traits he had observed over the last month. She would definitely go out of her way to help people, even if it meant ignoring the mission's primary objective. For a moment Nihlus felt a strange pride in Ranma's choice, but at the same time he felt annoyed at her ignoring the main objective.

'I expected her to do something like this, just not so soon.' he thought and remembered his own early days of ignoring orders to do the right thing. 'Damn, now I know how my commanders felt to be on the receiving end of this that trick. Karma eh?'

"I don't believe it. She's cut comms." Shepard sounded scandalised. "Do we go after her?"

"No. Ranma can handle herself and is most likely helping those survivors back to the Normandy or to safety. For now, we'll continue with the mission. I'll have to have words with her later." Nihlus said as he rechecked his weapons before jogging off. "Let's move."

"You get that Captain?" Shepard asked.

"Yes Commander." Anderson's voice came over the comms. "This is just what I was afraid of. Stay with Nihlus for now. As he said, Ranma can take care of herself."

"Aye Captain. Let's double time it guys." Shepard said taking off after the Spectre.

They quickly moved through the forest, following the wide path and carefully scanning the area for any sign of the attackers. The only things that moved were the weird floating bug things that Jenkins happily described as Gasbags and assured them they were harmless. Soon they exited the forest and reached a flat area before it sloped down towards the dig site at the bottom. Nihlus was waiting for them there.

"These are the co-ordinates." Nihlus said while glancing around the empty area. The central pedestal was exposed and devoid of the beacon. He ran his palm along one of the exposed white walls as he moved around it. 'Definitely prothean.' he thought recognising the designs. Then he saw the two bodies.

"What are those things?" Jenkins asked as the group gathered to examine the metal bodies lying on the ground. Nihlus dropped to one knee.

"Geth." He stated as he rolled one onto it's back to examine it. The shattered head flopped loosely and was unmistakable.

"Geth? But they haven't been seen outside the veil for nearly two hundred years." Kaiden stared at the body with a look of disbelief.

"They have now." Shepard remarked.

"Aren't they why A.I. research is banned?" Jenkins asked.

"Correct. The geth turned on their creators and forced the quarians to flee from their own home world. They are a warning to all organics on the dangers of A.I." Nihlus confirmed.

"You think we'll get praise for taking these things out?" Jenkin's wondered.

"Council law states they should be destroyed as soon as discovered." Nihlus stood back up as he spoke.

"Sweet! Let's go kick some A.I. butt!" the rookie cheered.

Kaiden gave Shepard an apologetic glance as she turned to Jenkins. "We're not here to engage the enemy, Corporal. If we have to fight them we will, but we're here for the beacon first and foremost. I don't want anyone charging into a fire-fight just to collect trophies. Understood?"

"Of course, Commander." Jenkins had to visibly force himself to calm down.

"But why would the geth suddenly attack one of our colonies?" Kaiden wondered.

"My first guess is they're here for the beacon. But the question is, what do they want it for? And where is it now?" Nihlus thought aloud.

"Who do you think moved it? Our side or the geth?" Kaiden wanted to know.

"Doesn't matter. We need to find it." Shepard said. They moved away from the dig and up along the outside slope dug around the site. At the top they took in the sight of the small research area, with its portable cabins in ruins. Doors had been ripped off and the place looked like a bombsite with metal and plastics strewn around the area. They took cover by some larger rocks.

"Perfect place for an ambush." Kaiden remarked quietly.

"Jenkins, check out those huts." Shepard indicated the cabins. Jenkins nodded happily and vaulted over the square rock he was behind. The young marine quickly crossed the area to the cabins and flattened himself to the outside wall before he edged over to the shattered door. On a quick mental count of three he pivoted around the door into the cabin. He did a quick sweep of the cabin with his weapon held ready. Nothing. Then he exited and repeated the task for the other cabin. It too was empty.

"Empty. Whatever happened here, we missed the party." Jenkins said as he stared at the knocked over chairs and equipment. After Jenkin's confirmation the area was devoid of hostiles, Shepard and Kaiden followed Nihlus as the turian climbed to his feet and moved into the area. Nihlus glanced down as they passed a burnt body. He almost dismissed the sight as just another victim when a thought tickled the back of his mind.

"Shepard, how long ago was that transmission we received?"

"It can't have been much more than twenty minutes. Why?" Shepard turned to the turian. Nihlus crouched down and picked up some of the ash around the body. He let it trickle from his digits.

"Judging by this, it's been here longer than twenty minutes." Nihlus stood again and brushed his hands clean.

"This feels too much like a trap." Shepard let her thoughts be known.

"Or the signal could have been set to repeat every thirty minutes." Kaiden supplied another reason.

"Whatever it is we'll deal with it." Nihlus stated striding across the area. As they walked around the rocky ridge the small spaceport came into view in the distance. It sat at the bottom of a steep slope and they saw the bridge down was destroyed, probably hit during the initial attack.

"Holy shit." Jenkins breathed in amazement as they caught sight of the massive ship squatting far in the distance beyond the spaceport. Even from how far away they were they could see how big the ship was. They stood on the shattered bridge and stared, getting their real first good look at it.

"That thing's impossible!" Kaiden remarked, his voice filled with awe. "For a ship that size to land on a planet it would take more energy than every city on Earth uses in a whole month! And taking off is another matter entirely...there's no known materials capable of taking the stresses required to keep something that size together during landing. Unless it's capable of reinforcing its body's internal structures down to the atomic level to withstand the landing and taking-off stresses. And that's not possible."

Nihlus pulled his sniper-rifle off his shoulder and looked through the scope at the ship while Kaiden talked. Red lightning crackled across the shell as he watched and a foreboding sense of dread filled his mind. He slowly lowered the rifle as what Kaiden had just said made something click into place in his head.

"No. It is possible. You've just described Ranma." Nihlus's statement caused the humans to turn to him with looks of surprise or curiosity.

"What?" Kaiden blinked.

"Ranma seemingly produces unknown quantities of energy from nothing. She can reinforce her body to take blows that would shatter a normal human. Use that energy to produce plasma..." Nihlus trailed off as the ship in the distance crackled with plasma once more. He narrowed his eyes as his thoughts went somewhere dark. 'She can't have something to do with this? Could she?'

"She did appear from nowhere on the Citadel with odd memories...and then disobeyed a direct order while cutting comms." Shepard must have been thinking the same thought.

"That can't be right. It's got to be a coincidence." Kaiden didn't sound one hundred percent convinced.

"A wise turian once told me, never ignore coincidence." Nihlus stated.

"Shepard to Normandy. Come in Normandy." Shepard felt a disquieting feeling as static came back as the only answer. Nihlus quickly checked his own comms and Kaiden finally confirmed what they suspected.

"We're being jammed."

"Err guys...there's someone down there." Jenkins pointed towards the spaceport as lone figure could be made out, sitting on a crate. Nihlus quickly placed the sniper scope back to his eye and sought out the lone figure. He felt his mandibles flare in surprise as he recognised the turian below.

"Saren..." Nihlus's jaw also fell open as for once he was caught by surprise. But when Saren glanced up at him, directly meeting his gaze through the scope, Nihlus flinched away in total shock. He stared down at his former mentor as he lowered the rifle.

"Friend of yours?" Shepard asked.

"I'm beginning to have my doubts." Nihlus replied walking to the edge of the ruined bridge and dropping to the ground. Shepard and her team followed after the turian as he made his way down the steep slope to the small spaceport. As they climbed the steps up Saren watched them from the corner of his eyes.

"Nihlus. I'm afraid you've missed the action." Saren raised his head as the group approached. Nihlus indicated with his hand to Shepard's team to stay back as he moved closer to where Saren sat, not taking his eyes from the other Spectre.

"What are you doing here, Saren?"

"The Council thought you could use some help on this one." Saren lied smoothly while clicking his safety to off for the final time. "I'm surprised you left the girl alone in the forest with those survivors."

"Have you been listening in on our comms?" Nihlus asked as their eyes met, not missing the fact Saren had removed his safety.

"I can feel her energy from here." Saren answered and held Nihlus's gaze.

It took all Nihlus's skill to keep his face neutral as all the past oddities between Ranma, Saren, the massive ship in the distance and the attack began making a strange kind of sense. 'Are they working together? But for what reason?' Nihlus wondered.

"Why am I not surprised you can sense her ki? Though I find it odd that you would know of it." Nihlus stated. "Answer me Saren, did you do this?"

"There's a great darkness coming Nihlus. Eden Prime is only the beginning." Saren ignored the question. "If you could only feel Sovereign's power you would know we are all nothing compared to them. Take a look behind me." he indicated the impaled husks with his free hand. "That will be all our fates, to be harvested, processed and ultimately discarded unless we can prove our usefulness."

Nihlus felt a chill at Saren's words. Not at what he was saying but the fact that Saren of all turians was sounding like some religious cult nut-job. He held the older Spectre's gaze for a moment, then took a quick glance towards the impaled husks. At that moment Saren raised his weapon. Shepard shouted out a warning even as Nihlus fired his rifle at almost point-blank range. The force of the impact sent Saren flying backwards over the crates and he disappeared out of sight. Nihlus lowered his weapon, saddened at having to have put Saren down like a rabid animal.

"Damn! I thought you were a goner." Kaiden remarked as the humans rushed up the steps to stand with the turian.

"You took a big risk there." Shepard looked up at Nihlus.

"A calculated risk. Saren hasn't been acting like himself since meeting Ranma. I needed proof...I never expected it to be something like this though." Nihlus replied.

"I think you've gotten it." Shepard turned her attention to the grisly sight of the impaled bodies. "Why'd he do this?"

"Saren's always hated humans." Nihlus answered, but even he wasn't sure that was all there was to it.

While the others were discussing motives, Jenkins wandered over to the nearest towering spike and stared up at the body in morbid fascination. For a moment he swore it twitched, but quickly discarded the notion as fantasy. He turned away from the spikes and his eyes rested on the empty ground where Saren's body should have been.

"Guys! I think we've got a prob-"

Jenkins was cut off as a pair of powerful turian hands grabbed hold of his helmet and gave it a sharp twist. There was a sickening crack/crunch noise.

"One down." Saren stated as he let the corpse drop.

"Jenkins!" Shepard exclaimed in horror before opening fire on the supposed dead turian. Kaiden and Nihlus immediately joined in. Saren leisurely turned to face them, completely ignoring the flashes from his kinetic barrier where the impacts hit and reached for a grenade. With a casual flick of his wrist he sent the explosive device at his three opponents, aiming to scatter them.

"Grenade!" Kaiden warned as he saw the round object spinning towards them. Saren strode forward as the grenade hit the decking and exploded. Kaiden and Nihlus dived to their left while Shepard rolled to her right as the explosion went off. She came out of her roll onto one knee, already bringing her weapon back to bare only to receive a turian foot to her mid-section. Shepard had the air forced from her lungs as she was launched away by the forceful blow. For a moment she was weightless then she hit the decking in a tumble until a pile of crates broke her rough bouncing tumble.

"Commander!" Kaiden was back on his feet and shooting again. Nihlus had dropped to one knee and used his sniper-rifle to take a shot at Saren which was blocked by his shield as easily as a normal shot.

"What?" Nihlus exclaimed but kept shooting every two seconds.

Saren strode over to the human female as she groaned and coughed while struggling to her hands and knees. He grabbed her by the throat and dragged her off the ground. He held her easily with one arm and stared at her in disgust while tightening his grip, cutting of her air supply. Shepard reacted by throwing a punch into Saren's face, which landed with barely any reaction, aside from a narrowing of his eyes.

Saren's head was suddenly knocked forward as a gravity distortion impacted the back of his head. He dropped Shepard by reflex and spun around to see his attacker. Shepard scrabbled away.

The other human was a biotic Saren realised in annoyance. The pest just moved up the threat ladder. Saren raised his arm and sent a blast of red crackling energy at Kaiden, who yelped and dived out of the way, taking cover behind a support. Then, taking his time, the Spectre moved in Nihlus and Kaiden's direction.

Nihlus realised the rifle wasn't touching Saren as the older Spectre stalker towards him. He discarded the sniper-rifle and switched to his assault-rifle and opened it up on full auto. Saren just continued to ignore the hail of bullets as he closed in on Nihlus, who began backing away. Finally Saren grew tired of toying with the other turian and lurched forward, grabbing the weapon and twisted it out of Nihlus's hands.

Nihlus immediately went for his pistol, but before he could reach it Saren threw the rifle, hitting the other turian in the face and knocking his head back. He yelped in surprise and reflectively reached a hand to cover his face from further damage. Saren seemed to blur forward and the next thing anyone saw was Saren holding Nihlus bent double as he held a pistol to the other turian's mid-section while holding onto Nihlus's armoured collar.

"Hold your fire! You might hit Nihlus!" Shepard shouted as she aimed at Saren with her own assault-rifle. Kaiden swore and backed off. "Let him go!"

Saren took that opportunity to lean in close and whispered sarcastically in Nihlus's ear. "How odd that humans would hold their fire to save a turian."

"That's because they're not all the monsters you make them out to be." Nihlus replied while attempting to pull away from Saren's impressively strong grip. He found it was impossible.

"It's a shame you had to come here with them. Unfortunately I can't let anyone who's seen me leave this planet alive. Not you. Not her." Saren stated.

"Why are you doing this?" Nihlus wanted to know.

"I'm protecting the galaxy. That's all you need to know." Saren paused. "And here comes the guest of honour now."

From where Saren held him, Nihlus saw a flash of white burst from the tree's lining the cliff face in the distance. He stared in growing dread as the pigtailed martial artist plummeted towards the spaceport and landed in a crouch with enough force to dent the decking. Nihlus remained silent, praying the thoughts of Ranma having played him for a fool would not be proven true.

"Saren." Ranma stated as her eyes confirmed what her senses had felt from deep in the forest. Her eyes narrowed as she saw Nihlus held at gun-point.

"Finally. I thought you would never show, girl. I've been looking forward to this moment ever since you humiliated me on the Citadel." Saren looked back over his shoulder as Ranma stood up.

"Which time was that? I have trouble remembering them all." Ranma smiled a sickeningly cute smile as she feigned ignorance.

"Ranma! Don't upset him! You could get Nihlus killed!" Shepard shouted a warning.

"Oh don't you worry. I kept count for you. After all, you're only a human." Saren replied.

"So you're challenging me to a one-on-one?" Ranma asked and cracked her knuckles.

"Yes I am. Just you verses me." Saren rumbled. "And to make things interesting..." Saren's gun went off and Nihlus shouted out as white hot agony ripped through his abdomen. The younger Spectre would have collapsed if not for Saren still holding him up. Blue blood dripped to the decking as Nihlus clutched his mid-section and hissed. Ranma made to move but Saren's voice froze her in place as he continued in a mocking tone. "Don't worry. He'll not die from this...not for another five or so minutes."

Saren then dragged Nihlus one way before throwing him away in the other, like a ragdoll. The younger turian yelped again as he hit the decking and rolled to a halt.

"You-" Shepard went to fire at Saren but a heavy impact right into the side of her rifle knocked her aim out. "Ranma?" she stared at Ranma with a look of betrayal.

"Don't interfere in a man to man fight. Protect Nihlus." Ranma said, her voice like ice and Shepard found herself surprised by the serious tone. Saren gave an under eyebrow-plates stare as he and Ranma glared at each other. The air between them seemed to grow heavy and for a moment Shepard was sure her eyes were playing tricks on her as the light seemed to dim and phantom shadows began to dance around the two warriors.

"Commander?" Kaiden asked, looking for guidance as he stared down the sights on his pistol.

"Cover Nihlus." Shepard commanded as she herself moved back, making her way to the injured turian.

"You have five minutes, girl." Saren stated.

"I only need one." Ranma promised.

For once Ranma didn't wait for her opponent to make the first move. She charged forward quicker than anyone but Saren and herself could follow. Saren stood still until the last moment and took a shot at the incoming martial artist. Ranma was already gone when the shot hit the decking as she moved aside while still closing in on the Spectre.

With a primal cry Ranma pulled her fist back and slammed it towards Saren's face only to find it halted with a crackle of red and white energy when she hit Saren's kinetic barrier. She frowned at her blow being stopped, knowing from testing her attacks against such barriers on Earth she was capable of shattering them with a single blow.

Saren gave her no time to plan her next move as he re-aimed at her head. Ranma moved her head to the side, avoiding the super-sonic bullet before Saren had even pulled the trigger and spun into a round-house kick with more force than her first punch. Again the shield held at the point of impact.

"Something wrong?" Saren gloated as he grabbed a second pistol with his other hand and aimed both towards Ranma. She raised both her arms to the side of her head, blocking Saren's arms to prevent him getting a good shot and then pushed his aim away as they went off, bullets whizzing past her ears.

What followed next was a seemingly perfectly choreographed deadly dance as Saren tried to shoot Ranma and she prevented him by either slapping his aim out or dodging. In between Saren's attacks she would occasionally throw another punch at his shields, only to be blocked by the crackling barrier. Behind her the decking was peppered with holes from Saren's weapons.

"We're sitting ducks here!" Shepard shouted to Kaiden as her own kinetic barrier sparked from an off course shot hitting it.

"We have to move him!" Kaiden stated as he moved around the injured turian. He hooked his arms through Nihlus's and began to drag the turian towards cover. Shepard moved with them, putting herself in-between Nihlus and any stray shots, while hoping her own shield would hold out. Nihlus groaned at the fresh waves of pain that being moved caused.

"You're slowing down." Saren remarked as Ranma's attempts at breaking his shield became slower. "Getting tired?"

Ranma ignored his jibe as she redirected another shot.

"Of course, that's to be expected really. Despite your power you're still an organic and get tired. Unlike myself, who has been upgraded to be the perfect combination of organic and synthetic." Saren sounded as if he were having a civil conversation with Ranma, instead of trading super quick blows as he tried to kill her with a bullet to the brain.

Ranma's fist suddenly landed right in his gut, catching the Spectre by complete surprise. Spittle flew from his open jaws as his brain tried to wrap itself around the fact he had been hit. Then Ranma's fist was pulled back and her foot lashed up, catching Saren under the jaw and lifted him off the ground. His vision filled with static for a moment and the next thing he knew he was falling backwards. He dropped his guns in surprise and hit the decking with a bounce before settling still.

"What?" Saren hissed as he struggled to catch his breath.

"Moron." Ranma smirked. "I wasn't tiring. I was finding how fast I could attack without being blocked by your shields. Nihlus did explain how they work you know."

Saren rolled to one knee and held his mid-section. He stared up at Ranma in a new light as he realised she had outsmarted him. A deep rumble grew in the back of his throat.

"You might be able to access your ki but you can't use it properly." Ranma bent down and picked up one of Saren's pistols and began twirling it around her finger. "Your ki is powerful but you're leaking it all over the place. You're about a hundred years too soon to beat me." She gave him her most infuriating smile.

Saren growled and took stock of his position. His eyes moved over the decking to the second pistol, which lay close to him. He could reach that in one dive. Ranma noticed he had glanced away from her and looked over.

'Now!' Saren thought as Ranma glanced at the other weapon. He grabbed another of his grenades and dived towards his weapon while simultaneously throwing the explosive at the pigtailed girl. A shot went off and the grenade exploded in mid-air.

"Moko Tabisha!" Ranma's voice called out as a blast of ki slammed into the pistol, shattering it. Saren rolled out of the blast's impact and turned to stare at the pigtailed girl somewhere in-between surprise and awe.

"Did you see that?" Kaiden exclaimed.

"What's happening?" Nihlus groaned as Shepard broke open a medi-gel container and slapped a blob of the thick gel over the wound to slow the bleeding.

"She just shot a grenade out of the air and blasted Saren's pistol to pieces with that ki stuff of hers." Kaiden explained.

"You!" Saren growled as he climbed back to his feet. Ranma suddenly vanished from view and reappeared right in front of him. Before he could react she kicked him in the chest. Saren stumbled back and tried to put up a defence, but Ranma seemed to weave right through it to land blow after blow onto him. The turian fell back, desperately trying to avoid the whirlwind of blows that was Ranma. Finally his back slammed into a massive metal container with a thud.

In desperation, Saren raised his hands and sent a crackling blast of energy at Ranma. It caught her by surprise and knocked her away. Ranma flipped around in mid-air and landed a few metres away from the heavily breathing Spectre, who looked worse for wear.

"Not bad." Ranma muttered poking her blackened and steaming breastplate. "Interesting use of ki. I'd like to know how you're powering your armour with it."

Saren glared at human with renewed hatred. He was now sure exactly why Sovereign had wanted her destroyed. Her skills were beyond even those Sovereign had granted him, but he still had a trump card he could play. He activated the ezo-implants Sovereign had added to his body and gestured at Ranma.

"What you...doing?" Ranma blinked as she suddenly became weightless and began floating above the decking. "Hey!" she exclaimed as she cartwheeled her arms in a comical attempt to regain control of her floatingness.

"Did you think using my life-force was the only ability granted to me?" Saren growled. He turned to the large container behind him and noted the warnings about weight stamped on the side. With a grunt he made a lifting movement with both arms and the container floated up above his head. He turned to Ranma and gave her a smug look as she realised what he was going to do.

"Oh crap!" Ranma tried to turn, her legs began bicycling, joining her arms.

"Die!" Saren shouted and with a final powerful burst of force made the heavy container race towards the helplessly floating girl. The container slammed heavily into Ranma, flattening her to the side and continued to slide across the dock. Sparks and a loud squealing noise from metal grinding on metal trailed after the container as Saren rushed forward, hands held out as if pushing the container even though he wasn't touching it. Finally the container ran out of dock to cross and Ranma and it slammed into the safety fencing which gave way in seconds to the massive forces being applied to it. The container tilted precariously for a second on the edge before gravity pulled it over. It hit the ground six feet down with a thud and buried Ranma under it.

Saren took a moment to catch his breath before he stared over the wrecked edge of the dock. For a moment he was filled with elation that he had succeeded, but then he realised he could still feel her life-force, strong as ever.

"What does it take to kill you?" Saren muttered and prepared to try and push the container as far into the ground as he could.

Without warning the area rumbled and a deep throbbing noise grew. Saren immediately whipped his head in the direction of Sovereign. He recognised the noise as Sovereign powering up his mass effect core.

"What's going on?" Kaiden shouted over the rumbling.

"It's moving!" Shepard pointed over the high wall at the furthest end of the dock, where the top of Sovereign could be seen slowly moving up. More arcing plasma discharges were seen as the massive ship lifted into the air and continuing upwards, gaining speed as it went.

"Sovereign?" Saren stared up at the ship with the expression of someone who vaguely thought they were being pranked as the Reaper began to leave. "What are you doing?" Saren took a surprised step towards the direction of Sovereign as he continued to accelerate up towards the clouds. Sovereign did not reply.

Saren's eyes widened as he came to the only conclusion he could at the Reaper's sudden vanishing act. He forgot about the human he was supposed to defeat and ran, crossing the dock and vaulted over the barrier to access the train platform with one thought on his mind. Betrayal.

Shepard and Kaiden exchanged a surprised but relieved glance before their comms crackled into life.

"Commander Shepard please respond."

"Joker, that you?" Shepard replied quickly.

"Commander!" Joker's relieved voice came back. "Thank god. When the comms went offline we began to worry."

"Status report!" Anderson demanded, cutting off whatever else Joker might be going to say.

"Two men down and Nihlus needs immediate medical evac." Shepard replied standing up and moved over to the dock edge where the large container went over. "It was an ambush. A turian named Saren-"

"Saren! Ranma was right then. Where is she now?"

Shepard stared down before replying. "Under about three tonnes of container, Sir. Saren crushed her with it."

"Shit!" Anderson's tone of angry, depressed and upset said it all. Shepard could already imagine the chewing out they would receive for her loss. "And Saren? Did you at least get him?"

"No Sir. He just upped and left-" Shepard cut off as the container shifted slightly.

"Commander?"

"Sorry Captain. I thought the container moved for a second."

The unexpected explosion of energy that smashed out the side of the container and shot into the air caught Shepard by surprise and she leapt back. Pieces of metals, plastics, grains and packing material rained down over the area. Blinking, Shepard recovered from her surprise and once again looked over the edge in time to see a battered and dented Ranma climb out the hole she was made in the container. Ranma pulled herself from it and quickly spotted Shepard.

"Where'd Saren go?" Ranma asked as she poked the cut on her forehead that was still trickling a little blood.

"Commander?" Anderson tried again.

"Sorry Captain. Change of report. Ranma's a little bruised and scraped but fine." Shepard shook her head in wonder, but didn't make too much out of it. She herself had caused a few displays like that with her own biotics.

"Err, Commander? I can't land the Normandy where you're at. They *really* did a number on the landing area. Looks almost like my room actually." Joker cut in as the sounds of the Normandy's engines approaching were heard.

"Joker, bring us in as low over their position as you can and open the cargo bay doors. Shepard, get Ranma to bring Nihlus onboard. Then find the beacon. Be careful, Saren's dangerous."

"Yeah. I kinda saw that." Shepard replied as the Normandy flew in over head. She shouted over at Ranma. "Ranma! Get Nihlus onboard! We're going after Saren!"

"What? You don't stand a chance!" Ranma shouted back over the noise and wind.

Shepard surprised Ranma when she closed in and grabbed her battered armour and leaned in close. "Listen! Nihlus will die unless he gets medical treatment onboard! The Normandy can't land here and we can't jump up there!"

"But Saren-"

"We have to get the beacon. Even if we only slow him down enough for you to get back out here, we have to stop him." Shepard let go of Ranma. "Now save Nihlus."

"Right..." Ranma didn't want to let them go after Saren. He was too strong for them, but also she didn't want Nihlus to die, and keeping Nihlus alive won out over beating up Saren. Ranma rushed over to the injured turian and took over supporting him from Kaiden.

"Lieutenant, with me." Shepard took off for the train platform.

"Aye, aye ma'am." Kaiden followed.

"Hold on Nihlus." Ranma said as she helped him drape his arm over her shoulder. Nihlus hissed in pain at being moved. Once he was on his feet Ranma pulled him over her shoulders in a fireman's carry. "Sorry if this is rough." she apologised at the further winces Nihlus made as she looked up at the Normandy. Anderson was in view, standing on the extended ramp and holding onto the safety railings along the side, watching on with concern.

Ranma took two steps back before running forward and jumped up the three story height to land as lightly as she could on the ramp.

"Bring him in!" Anderson moved back himself towards the gurney where Dr. Chakwas was waiting. Ranma moved quickly over with the Captain and together they eased Nihlus onto the gurney.

"I've got him from here." Chakwas said as she began examining the wound. She looked up at one of the other crew members with her. "Let's get him to medical."

"Will he be okay?" Ranma asked with concern in her voice as they rushed Nihlus away.

"The doctor's one of the best. She's extensively studied alien biology. Don't worry, he'll be fine." Anderson assured her.

"Good! Now I've got a score to settle with an ass of a turian." Ranma growled and rolled her shoulder. The armour plating caught halfway round with it being bent out of shape. Ranma frowned at the new restrictiveness.

"No. You've done enough. Let Shepard deal with the situation." Anderson tried to convince her it was unnecessary. "You don't need to place yourself in danger again."

"Saren's using ki. They can't beat him without me." Ranma stated while simultaneously gripping the armour plating she wore and pulled on it. The armour held for a moment before it tore down the middle, revealing her white vest almost as if she were some sort of superhero changing into her hidden identity. The small kettle necklace around her neck glinted in the light as she pulled her legs free from the wrecked armour.

"What?" Anderson was surprised by the statement and was also reminded just how powerful Ranma was. He knew he couldn't stop her going after the Spectre if she wanted to. He didn't want her placed in further danger, but at the same time part of him relished the thought of siccing Ranma onto Saren. "Are you sure he's using ki?"

"Positive." Ranma replied as she crossed over to her locker and grabbed her pants. She pulled them on. "He's wasting massive amounts of it, but that just shows how much he has. Only I can beat him."

Anderson thought for a moment, weighing up everything. Then he activated his comms. "Joker, can you get a lock on Saren? Look for a turian heat signature."

"Give me second Captain...come on where are - Ha! Got him! He's on the second platform."

"Take us in, Joker."

"Aye Captain." Joker replied. "Just a heads up though, they've taken out all the landing areas."

"I don't think that'll be a problem, Joker." Anderson smiled deviously at Ranma. "I think we can treat this as a bombing run."

x-X-x

Saren raced alongside the tracks, foregoing using the basic moving platform that served as the tram between the two platforms as he could move faster on foot, especially now. His mind was focused on one single question. Why had Sovereign left?

He soon jumped up to second platform, landing lightly by the stairs that led up to the right-hand side of the station and the pair of bridges across to the other side. A pair of identical geth turned to regard him with their flashlight-like eyes.

"What's going on here?" Saren demanded stalking towards the machines. The geth answered by raising their weapons and firing at Saren. The turian growled, angered by the geth's actions confirming one of his thoughts. He blasted the closest one apart with a crackling red energy, ignored the continued fire and grabbed the second by its throat. He twisted the head to the side, ripping corded cables which spurted white fluids. Saren held the body long enough to take the geth's weapon for himself and glanced behind them at the compact nuke. The control panel was torn out, but a small panel further to the side showed a countdown. He had less than four minutes.

"Damn you Sovereign! Why?" Saren snarled as his fears were confirmed. 'Of course. I understand now.' Saren thought already turning towards where the beacon had been sent. 'You never expected me to beat her did you? You only upgraded me to keep her busy while you set this up to eliminate her yourself.'

He took a running leap across the tracks and up to the higher platform which joined the bridges. There weren't any more geth. Sovereign had only sacrificed two to stay behind and guard the bombs, showing how confident the Reaper was in none of them being able to escape the blast zone in time.

He raced through the opening to a small set of stairs down to the main loading bay and vaulted over the edge. Landing with a thud he was surprised to see the beacon was still there. Knowing time was short Saren rushed over, his only thought to get the beacon data for himself. He needed to know what it contained. Even if it was useless to him, he'd die knowing.

He slowed to a walk and discarded the geth weapon before standing still before the active beacon. He spread his arms as the beacon lifted him into the air and welcomed the incoming images as they were burned into his mind. The process was painful and the images confusing, random, but he did make out a Reaper from his familiarity to them.

The next thing Saren was aware of was being flung backwards as the beacon overloaded. He struggled to remain conscious as his vision swam in and out and his head throbbed, his ears rang, and his stomach wanted to vacate north. Forcing himself to focus, he raised his head and almost regretted it as his vision doubled.

Using every last ounce of willpower he pushed himself to his hands and knees, before stumbling to his feet and clutched at his head while turning. His scrambled thoughts urged him to run as far and as fast as he could. A loud noise, sounding like a ship and a shadow passing overhead made him glance up. The Normandy shot past and a dark shape fell towards him.

"Saren!" Ranma bellowed as she dropped towards him with a leg extended, aiming to plant it right through his head.

"No!" Saren had enough sense of mind to dive forward, barely avoiding the impact of Ranma's attack. The pigtailed girl shattered the decking, going right through it and crashing into the ground below. The decking Saren was lying flat upon, bowed inwards under the impact and he found himself scrabbling to hold onto it as he slid down towards the hole Ranma had created. His claws managed to catch in between the grooves and he hung there wondering what had just happened.

A shadow passed over him as Ranma leapt out of the hole she had made and somersaulted to land in front of the dangling turian. A pair of small but impossibly strong hands grabbed the front of his armour and dragged him up to eye level with the girl, leaving his feet dangling into the hole. She looked angry.

x-X-x

The train, little more than a moving platform with safety rails came to a shuddering halt in the station. Kaiden stepped off first, glancing around and spotted something that sent a wave of shock through him.

"Commander! They've set nukes." Kaiden informed Shepard as he rushed over to the device. He crouched and began checking the bomb over to see if he could deactivate it.

"Can you disarm it?" Shepard wanted to know.

"Not in time." Kaiden shook his head. "If the panels still worked maybe, but like this I'd need to disassemble the casing to get at the controls. We've got just under three minutes to get out of here."

"Shepard to Normandy. Saren's rigged the place with nukes. The whole area's going to go up in less than three minutes. Requesting immediate evac."

"Oh hell." Joker exclaimed over the comms. "Commander, I can't get the Normandy close enough to you. They've taken out all the landing pads and the nearest clearing is more than two minutes out at a full on sprint."

Shepard glanced down at Kaiden who closed his eyes in regret. They both knew what that meant. "Joker. Get out of here." she said quietly.

"Belay that command." Anderson entered the conversation. "I'm not leaving my crew behind. Ranma's near you on the loading platform. She took a dive to get to Saren. Get over to her and we'll bring the Normandy in close. Hurry!"

"Aye, aye, Sir!" Shepard replied with renewed hope and the pair of them raced up the step and across the bridge towards Ranma position. They passed through the opening and down the steps to the loading platform and noticed the impact crater Ranma had made. They slid to a halt at finding Ranma holding Saren up over the hole with both hands.

"Ranma!" Shepard shouted. "We have to move it! The area's rigged to blow any minute!"

"What?" Ranma glanced back to Shepard. Saren took her momentary distraction to lash out without thinking. His fist slammed into her, just above her breastbone and something shattered.

"Ow!" Ranma exclaimed and dropped Saren as something sharp cut into her skin.

"Oof!" Saren hit the ground with a thud. He laid stunned for a moment, then he remembered his situation and forced himself to his feet. He stumbled before loping off as fast as he could manage.

Ranma grimaced and reached for the area where something sharp had cut her. Her fingers felt the wetness she had instantly assumed was blood from the feeling of something sticking in her skin. They came away wet, but it wasn't blood. "Huh?"

For a second Ranma was confused then with a glance down at a flat chest he froze. Ranma quickly snapped out of his surprise and ripped the remains of the kettle necklace from his neck and looked at the shattered and hollow glass ornament. He then patted his chest to make certain, you couldn't be too sure in his experience and then grabbed his pigtail to check the colour. Black.

"Bwhahaha!" Ranma crowed doing a little jig. "Akane you're brilliant! Never gonna be a girl again! Never gonna be a girl again!"

"What the HELL!" Kaiden exclaimed as he and Shepard both saw Ranma instantly grow a foot in height and his frame fill out with lean but hard-packed muscle.

"Hey guys! I'm a guy again!" Ranma laughed, forgetting Saren for the moment.

Shepard squinted at the boy Ranma had become. The hair was the same style, if the wrong colour. The clothes were the same, though a little tighter on him. He had the same way of speaking. She had seen plenty of odd things in space but spontaneous gender changing wasn't one of them. "Ranma? Is it really you?"

"Yup! I'm cured!" Ranma grinned. "Isn't it great?"

"Not to hurry you guys," Kaiden reined in his surprise and just accepted the situation at face value for the moment, as there was more important things going on. "But we need to get outta here! This whole place is rigged to blow remember?"

"Joker! Where are you?" Shepard said urgently into her comms as she to forced the transformation to the back of her mind.

"Sorry, traffic was hell." Joker's reply was punctuated by the Normandy's shadow swooping in as low as Joker dared bring her.

"What about Saren?" Ranma pointed in the distance as the silver-grey armoured figure leapt away, crossing a large distance with each jump.

"Forget him! Get up here!" Anderson's voice shouted over the noise of the Normandy's engines. The Captain was on the ramp and waving at them to hurry. Ranma wrapped an arm around Shepard's waist. "Hold on." he stated while grabbing Kaiden and lifting the surprise man over his other shoulder. Shepard grabbed hold of Ranma's neck as the pigtailed boy burst into a full-on sprint, making the scenery blur. Then with a powerful leap Ranma shot into the air towards the Normandy and landed on the ramp. He quickly threw Kaiden inside.

"Punch it Joker!" Anderson shouted.

"Aye, aye, Sir!" the Normandy was moving even before Joker's reply came over the comms. Ranma took hold of the safety-rail as the ship accelerated to escape velocity speeds. He and Shepard glanced back, looking out the slowly closing cargo-bay doors as four huge explosions went off, one after the other and quickly joined together into a massive glowing ball of death. The Normandy's cargo-bay door finally closed on the sight as they left the atmosphere of Eden Prime.

"And another successful save by your pilot. You can thanks me later ladies." Joker laughed over the comms. "Just want to point out if this had been any other ship in the Alliance we'd be dead right now."

Shepard let out the breath she was holding and for a moment stared at Ranma, who stared back.

"You can let go now." Shepard stated evenly and Ranma realised how he was still holding her.

"Ehheheh." Ranma laughed nervously stepping away and rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry about that."

Anderson took that moment to look Ranma up and down. His face showed his confusion. Ranma noticed. "Hey old man. My curse is cured. Told you I was a guy." Ranma smirked.

"Ranma...how...oh forget it. With you anything can happen." Anderson gave a put upon shrug.

"I'm sorry Captain. We lost the beacon." Shepard stated. "Saren did something to make it blow. And the colony..."

"Doesn't matter right now. We got out alive. We'll deal with the fallout later." Anderson told her. He turned to Ranma and stared for another few seconds, before shaking his head and continuing. "Could Saren have gotten away in time?"

Ranma thought for a moment then shook his head. "I couldn't of got out in time. How's Nihlus?"

"Sleeping. Dr. Chakwas had to sedate him to operate. He'll be out of action for a few days, unless he decides to be stubborn."

"That's good." Ranma nodded.

There was a sudden creaking noise above their heads, before a stream of hot water sprayed out of the ceiling right on Ranma.

"Ya! Hot!" Ranma yelped jumping out of the way. She glanced down. "Oh drat..."

"Hey Captain?" Joker's voice came over the comms. "You know when you said to keep an eye out on things going wrong during the shakedown run? Well I just want to say we've just had a break in the hot water system."

"Yes...we've just noticed." Anderson boggled at the suddenly female again Ranma. "You will be explaining this...I hope?"

x-X-x

Saren pushed himself harder than he had ever done before. Pushing all his life-force into the muscles of his legs, he covered a massive distance in a short time, but he knew it wasn't enough to escape.

"Sovereign." Saren growled landing and taking deep breathes. He wobbled unsteadily, his balance still not right. His head continued to ache from the beacon and he turned to face the way he had came, not in resignation, but in sheer, unadulted rage. He had been discarded. After everything he had done, everything he had sacrificed, it had made no difference.

The explosions began. They swelled up strangely silent as he watched, his cybernetic optics capable of adjusting to not be blown out by the brightness that swept towards him like a tidal wave of made of dust, debris and fire.

He raised his hands in defiance and bellowed his hatred to the oncoming onslaught as his power crackled around him. "Sovereign!"

The noise arrived in time to swallow him in fire and his world vanished in white.

x-X-x

The gently flickering glow of the many holographic haptic displays before him was soothing he reflected as his glowing electric blue eyes studied the various images, data and graphs shown. He sipped the expensive bronze liquid in his glass carefully but his eyes never left the displays, taking in all the wonderful data. The Illusive Man's face cracked into a pleased smile as he lifted his leg from over his knee and put the glass down carefully on the edge of his chair.

He reached out and dragged one of the screen closer to himself. It showed a nude girl or woman of unknown age strapped into a metal chair. Her face was obscured by a large array of metal equipment covering her entire head. Various tubes ran to and from her thin and underdeveloped body. Wires were taped to her skin at various points, skin so pale the veins could be seen as a dark network under it. Beside the live camera feed, various readouts constantly updated. For a moment he marvelled at what they had achieved with this one.

Reaching out he pressed finger to a area of the display and dragged it to become the main image. The contact details and image of a Doctor Jacob Stein.

"Record message." The Illusive Man stated, then began talking. "Congratulations are in order Doctor, your theory on inserting a quantum entanglement communications device into the genetic structure of a live human specially grown has proven very successful. The test subject is sending tremendous amounts of potentially unlimited in value information back to her twin, without even being aware."

He took a moment out to sip his drink again.

"I've just approved a doubling of your research budget. I expect you'll spend the money wisely and give us further breakthroughs in this emerging field. On that note, I would like you to investigate into a true two way system, the potential for two minds to experience the same data or a single mind to operate two bodies at once is exciting and opens up many information gathering opportunities and even military uses." He added a dramatic pause for effect. "With a doubled budget I expect results at least one point two five times or quicker. Cease recording."

The Illusive Man pondered something for a moment before tapping the send button. He made a shooing gesture and the display flipped away and moved to the back of the pile. The next nearest screen gave him a moment to pause. His smile faded as he reached and dragged it closer.

The screen played four video images, each of a different point of Ranma's confrontations with Saren. Two from the citadel and two from the recent attack on Eden Prime. They were all from Ranma's viewpoint. Graphs showed various levels of energy, temperature and anything else The Illusive Man thought might be interesting. The most interesting one to him was the one labelled ki. Whenever the repeating battle scenes showed Saren attacking, they spiked. Extremely high.

Now he was conflicted. Amazed to find another ki user in this day and age. Angered that it was an alien of all beings. Annoyed at his death preventing further data gathering than what he had already, but also glad to be rid of the dangerous alien. He reached for his glass and took a bigger sip and then held it against his lips in thought. He put the glass down and pulled up his contact list on another screen.

"Record message. Ms. Lawson, I have a job for your skills. I require all Alliance intel and the Council's data on the turian Spectre Saren Arterius. I wish to know everything about him, right down to what he has for breakfast. I expect it within a week. Cease message." he hit send and then scrolled through his contacts once more.

"Record message. Doctor Kuno, some fascinating data has come into my possession that I believe will be of big assistance to you and your team. Your experiments so far with the...pigtailed girls, have been interesting but ultimately useless, however I believe with careful analysis of this data you may gleam some insight into how to finally produce what we both desire. It seems somebody has already successfully achieved your theory of using ki and biologically produced energy to power mass effects as well as armour systems. The results are impressive and don't seem to require the creation of plasma and the resultant power losses from conversion to use."

He added another of his pauses to let his point sink in.

"As soon as you are able, begin work on developing this system. For now I'm allocating you a budget of four billion credits. Make this investment worth my while or you'll have your...toys taken away. End message."

The Illusive Man then shooed away the screen with Saren on and pulled the one forward that he had the greatest interest in. He leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers before his face. A frown of intense thought wrinkled his brow. The massive, dark shape of Sovereign filled the screen. All the graphs to the sides where showing full bars, basically meaning they were off the charts.

This was just the sort of thing he desired. The power that he wanted under his control. A ship of immeasurable power. Something that had remained hidden for who knew how long by the geth. He assumed it was a geth creation, at least for now until further data proved the assumption either true or false.

'Who would have thought that that one whim, that one moment of emotion clouding my judgement would lead to all this data. Letting that unfinished defective prototype live was perhaps my greatest move so far.' he thought staring at the ship on the screen with undisguised lust. He lowered his hands and his eyes glowed brighter as he smirked a downright sinister smile.

"I must have you. And I know who is able to track you down."

x-X-x

He was in pain. His entire being ached in burning agony. Even parts of him he never knew existed ached. He didn't know how long he lay there, unable to move, unable to see, unable to hear while the pain ran through him.

He had been consumed by fire and still lived. Or did he? The pain was enough to make his mind suspect he was in hell, being tortured for all his sins. In his delirious state he saw faces of the long dead taunting him, mocking him, belittling.

He drifted, somewhere been life and death, awake and sleep. His throat no longer worked from crying out his pain to the world. Dry and raw. Only one thought kept him from fading completely. Revenge.

For a moment he thought he heard something move. But that was impossible. Then it came again. Footsteps? And voices, coming through to him like that of two cans on a string. Far, far away the voices called to each other.

More muttering. Becoming closer. Something vibrated near him and dirt fell on his face. It felt strange, too close. The blackness suddenly lifted sending his world into searing light and he made a soundless scream in horror as the flames engulfed him again...but they didn't.

"Holy shit! I found a survivor!" a male human's face appeared in his blurred vision.

"Go away!" Saren tried to shout at the face taunting him. No sound came out from his swollen throat. He didn't recognise this as one he had killed, but then again, he probably couldn't remember them all anyway.

"Jesus H. Christ! What a mess!" Another face. Saren tried to bat it away. His pathetically weak arm was caught easily by the human as he took his fingers within his own in comforting gesture. "Calm down. Medical attention is on its way!"

"Let me die! I don't need a human's help!" Saren wordlessly shouted.

"He's freaking!" another voice stated. "Hold him down while I sedate him!"

"Nooo!" Saren called out in a silent scream as they held him down and something sharp was stuck into his arm. As his vision faded once more he heard their voices fade away.

"We need immediate airlift. Survivor is a Caucasian male, forties, roughly six three, two twenty pounds. Serious burns to body."

End Chapter and the first story arc.

And so I finished the first story arc of this. Lots of outright reveals here, some hinted reveals and I'm sure a lot more questions. This Ranma's curse is flipped now, so he/she might be a little more at ease with it as hot water is less likely to be encountered. The Ranma/ Shepard thing was a joke. don't take seriously :P

And we have a Kuno introduced by name and a few hints at his personality. A very sick Kuno, but that's for later...

I'm planning on writing this fic in arcs so I have some fixed points I can take a break from it if I ever decide to, without leaving it in the middle of something interesting.

I'll come out and say on pairings, I like the idea of Ranma / Tali. So there :P


End file.
